


Daycare

by thebiffstar



Category: The Hobbit (2012), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Bilbo runs a daycare, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 06:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/695227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebiffstar/pseuds/thebiffstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo raises his nephew Frodo, he runs a daycare, and everything is good. Until one day when it seems that everyone is interested in him and his daycare. Then suddenly he’s pulled into the underworld he never knew the city had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dinosaur Daycare

Bilbo Baggins was a respectable neighbor; widely known around the cul-de-sac as to never turn a guest away, except for his greedy relatives. So when he slammed the door in the face of a man who wasn’t from around they were all shocked.

What was wrong with Bilbo?

He was a nice neighbor, ran a respectable daycare (he was going to get four new kids when Francesca Underhill returned to work, she has 3 children and a new baby,) he would babysit for the Gamgees, he even took in his poor orphaned nephew. Slamming the door in someone’s face was out of character for the man.  

As in all small towns there was a fair amount of gossip. And the rumors about a mystery man spread like wildfire. Some said the man was an ex-lover, some said he was a current lover and they had just had a little spat. Some said he was lawyer for Bilbo’s greedy relatives and they were trying to talk Bilbo’s house again. One even said he was Bilbo’s nephew’s real father.

However all of these rumors are wrong. If you want the full story then you have to see it from Bilbo’s view.

 

Bilbo shot up in his bed, a name he couldn’t quite recall on the tip of his tongue. He was drenched in sweat. He had just had another nightmare.

This was one he had time and time again. He’s had dreams about this other world since he was little; well he wouldn’t call them dreams. A few were nightmares, some even felt like memories, but that was stupid. They were all about this creature called a hobbit, going on an adventure with some dwarves and a wizard, to save a mountain and kill a dragon.

There were always crystal clear faces, unless he tried to remember them.

In this world his lover was a king. It frustrated Bilbo to no end that when he woke, names he had said over a thousand times just slipped his mind. He had a family he loved, but he had never met. A life he lived but wasn’t real.

Bilbo rubbed his face. The dreams didn’t matter now, he had to get up.

 

“Frodo are you ready to go?” Bilbo called into his nephew’s room.

“Yep!” the little dark curly haired boy came running out nearly knocking Bilbo over. As Frodo ran into the kitchen for breakfast Bilbo smiled fondly at him. It had been two years now since Bilbo’s cousins had died in a freak boating accident leaving Bilbo in charge of their 3 year old son Frodo.

Bilbo followed after his nephew remembering how he had to fight tooth and nail against his relatives the Sackville-Baggins for the little boy, and later for the house they lived in now, 12 Bag End. His parents left it to him but the Sackville-Baggins were still trying to take it.

“Thank you Unca!” Frodo said around a mouth full of eggs.

“What did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?” Bilbo scolded playfully.

Frodo swallowed, “Is rude an’ dwarvish.” Frodo said with a smile. Bilbo would tell Frodo and the other kids at his day care about his dreams.

Eventually he got tired of it and gave them all new names. The hobbit was named Martin, the wizard was named Ian. The dwarf king was called Richard; he had two nephews Aidan and Dean. There were two brothers named Graham and Ken. They seemed to know Richard the longest; Graham was big and intimidating with lots of tattoos, while Ken was very grey. Mark, Jed, and Adam are another set of brothers; Adam was one of the youngest in the company, Jed had a criminal background, and Mark was almost like Adam’s parent. The healer of the group was John; his brother’s name was Peter. The last set of brothers were called James and Stephen, they had a cousin called William.

Bilbo started eating his own eggs and bacon next to Frodo. He helped the little boy cut up the eggs.

The door bell rang.

“Sam!” Frodo exclaimed happily jumping out of his chair.

“Wait.” Frodo froze mid-step in the door way looking back to his uncle. “Wash up.” Bilbo pointed to the bathroom.

“Kay!”

While his nephew ran to the bathroom, Bilbo answered the door.

“Hello Hamfast, hello Sam. How are you doing to day?” Bilbo greeted his neighbor and friend.

“Very good Bilbo, how about you?”

“Good as always.” Bilbo smiled down at Sam, “Frodo’s in the bathroom washing his hands. Can you make sure he’s ready to go soon, okay?”

“No problem Mister Bilbo.” Sam said with a determined smile before going to find his friend.

“Bilbo could you watch Sam tomorrow night? There’s a function at the school and my wife and I won’t get back till real late.”

“Sure, he and Sam can have a sleep over.”

“I don’t know what we would do without you.”

“It’s no problem.” Bilbo said waving his neighbor goodbye. He closed the door and got his bag ready. Bilbo took Sam and Frodo to the daycare he ran each day. He watched Sam quite a bit.

He had known the Gamgees’ since before he started watching Frodo. He had moved into his parents’ house while Bell was pregnant with little Sam; he was actually Sam’s god-father.

“Frodo, Sam, time to go.”


	2. The Great Dinosaur-Spaceman War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you like this chapter, it has more little Frodo and Sam.
> 
> and in case it was unclear, everyone's human

Sam and Frodo crawled in to the back seat of his mini-van, and got in their seats. Bilbo got the van when he opened the daycare, so he could take the kids on trips to the park and so on. He had a booster seats for each of the kids in the back, and a car seat for one the youngest child he watched.

 

The day care was only a few minutes away; it was actually close to the middle school where Hamfast worked.

Frodo and Sam followed him in to the daycare as usual, starting playing as soon as the lights were on. Bilbo put his bag into the office and then closed the door. He smiled as Frodo and Sam played with the dinosaurs.

 

Merry was always the first to arrive. He was Frodo’s cousin on his mother’s side. And as usual he was still basically asleep.  Esmeralda Merry’s mother was a busy woman and didn’t have time to do anything besides drop Merry off at the daycare in the morning. Bilbo didn’t have a problem feeding the boy breakfast if he could help out Esmeralda. 

 

Another one of Frodo’s cousins, Pippin, was the next to arrive. It was a little unclear, but he was somehow related to Bilbo and Merry as well. The families that lived in the part of town they lived in were usually related one way or another.

Merry woke up when Pippin came in. they were the best of friends, and trouble makers too. Great criminal careers ahead of them and they were only 5.

 

Merry and Pippin had joined Frodo and Sam playing spacemen and dinosaurs, when the last of the boys arrived. Kili and Gimli, they lived in the same building. Kili’s mother Dis and Bilbo had been best friends in high school and were still best friends. Dis had two boys, Fili and Kili. Fili was the oldest by five years; he had been one of children Bilbo had in daycare. 

Fili and Ori (another pre-teen that lived in the same building, he had also gone to Bilbo’s daycare,) walked Kili and Gimli to the daycare on their way to school. They only lived down the street. Fili and Ori were each 10, Kili was 5, and Gimli was 3; as long as they stuck together they could walk to school.

“Hi Bilbo!” Fili waved as he and Ori ushered Kili and Gimli inside.

“Hello Fili, Ori.” Bilbo greeted. “Ori did you get a chance to read that book I gave you yet?”

Ori smiled and nodded. “It is really good so far. I’m almost done; I’ll get it back to you soon.”

“Keep it for as long as necessary.” Bilbo said with a wave of his hand. “Now you get to school okay? No skipping.” Bilbo joked, looking pointedly at Fili. Ori, and Kili giggled; Gimli had started a war between Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

“Goodbye Kee, I’ll see you later.” Fili hugged his little brother goodbye. And then he and Ori left.

 

It was a grand war. Bilbo was asked to write down its great history. It began when the dinosaurs settled on a new planet; Frodosaurus and Sam-rex had thought it was a pretty place to live. But little did they know spaceman Pippin and spaceman Merry, had the same idea. They lived in peace until spaceman Gimli arrive. You see spaceman Gimli didn’t like dinosaurs too much and he convinced spacemen Pippin and Merry to attack Frodosaurus and Sam-rex.

But the tides changed when Kili-dactyl came to aide his friends.

In the end Space-Dinosaur King Bilbo ended the war with mac and cheese and chicken fingers. Both the dinosaurs and spacemen agreed that chicken fingers were worth peace.

 

“Bilbo can we pwease hear more bout Martian’s adventure? Pwease, pwease, pwease!” Kili tugged on his pants with big puppy dog eyes. Bilbo finally relented after they all started begging.

“Okay, okay. Go on sit down, I’ll be right there.” The boys all scurried over to the pile of pillows and beanbag chairs dubbed the Nap time/ Story time corner. They always left the biggest beanbag for Bilbo.

Bilbo put the remnants from lunch into the kitchen before joining the boys.

“Where did I leave off?”

“Martian just went into Benedict’s layer!”

“Ah yes…”

 

Bilbo smiled at all the boys lying around him. They had all dazed off right about the part after Benedict was killed. Usually Bilbo would cover them in blankets and go into his office for about an hour.  

But today Bilbo just started at the sleeping boys with a loving smile. He was attached to ever child who came through his day care.

The first children he ever watched were Theodred, Eomer, Arwen, and Eowyn. They had been a lovely bunch, much calmer then his latest batch. After them had been Aragorn, Legolas, Fili, Ori, and Boromir; then later Boromir’s little brother Faramir. There was never a boring day with them.

He missed all of them greatly, even if he saw them frequently. They all went to the school around the corner.

He was going to miss all of these kids too. Everyone but Gimli was going into kindergarten next year, even Frodo.

Bilbo was startled out of his thoughts when Kili started coughing. The raven hair boy was still asleep. Bilbo had to warn Dis, Kili might be getting sick.

 

After nap time Bilbo set all the boys up with finger painting. There were no more coughs for Kili so Bilbo assumed that he was going to be fine. He would ask Fili to tell his mom to be on the lookout for more symptoms later.

 

Bilbo was still cleaning up after all the boys had been picked up, save for Sam and Frodo, when Sam came over and tugged on his pants.

“Mister Bilbo, I think someone is outside.” Bilbo looked over to Frodo and saw him looking out the window Sam was pointing to.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a man sittin’ on da bench ‘cross da street. He keeps lookin’ at Frodo and me.”

“’Frodo and I’” Bilbo corrected automatically. “Okay, I want you and Frodo to play away from the window." Bilbo went over to the window sending his nephew over to Sam.

There was a man sitting on the bench like Sam had said. When he saw Bilbo he got up and started to walk away. Bilbo didn't get a good look; if Bilbo saw the man again he was calling the police.

 

After dropping Sam off next door, Bilbo and Frodo returned home. Frodo was coloring at the table while Bilbo was making dinner.

“Unca! Look the horsey’s blue!” Frodo held up his picture proudly.

“That’s lovely Frodo.” Bilbo ruffled his nephew’s hair, “Do you want to put it on the fridge or the wall?” Bilbo had a whole wall in his house dedicated to the artwork the children gave him; he had at least one picture from every one of his daycare graduates.

“The fridge!”  Frodo climbed down off his chair and ran over to the fridge with the picture in his hand. Bilbo bent down to help him find room on the over populated fridge. There wasn’t much room left with all of the alphabet magnets and other pictures.

There was a knock at the door.

“Frodo stay here, try to find a place to put it.” Bilbo said as he went to answer the door.

Bilbo didn’t know who he expected to be at the door this late at night, but it certainly wasn’t the extremely large and intimidating bald man with tattoos in a suit that was standing at his door.

“Hello?” Bilbo said surprised. He was suddenly struck by an odd case of Deja-vu.

“Bilbo Baggins?” he voice was just as deep as Bilbo thought it would be.

“Yes?”

“This is a warning. Very bad men are interested in yer daycare.” He handed Bilbo a business card with a phone number on it. “Call this number if ya have a problem the police can’t handle.”

“Do I know you?”

“No” And he was gone, leaving Bilbo standing in his doorway holding the business card.

“Unca! The pot bubblin’!”

“Coming Frodo.” Bilbo closed the door leaving the card on his hall table, to be forgotten


	3. Ruined Shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin is going to be in this chapter! as well as the man who Bilbo slammed a door on his face.

Chapter 3:

 

Come the next morning Bilbo had almost forgot all about the tattooed man. It happened again. The very first part of Martin’s adventure; when the rude dwarves invaded his home.

 Bilbo scrubbed his face with his hands. Maybe he was crazy.

Bilbo hopped not, if he was the Sackville-Baggins’ would try to have his house taken away… again.

 

After the man had left and Bilbo had saved diner, he had given Frodo his bath and put him to bed.

 

At breakfast Bilbo informed his nephew that Sam would be sleeping over to night. Frodo was very excited. He asked to be excused to clean his room before Sam got here to go to daycare.

 

Bilbo checked the fridge. The needed to go to the market, his fridge was almost empty. He had forgotten to go shopping last week when he took Sam and Frodo to the park.

 

Another normal day at the daycare; today the boys wanted to play outside in the fenced of area behind the daycare.

Frodo and Sam were playing by the flowers; Bilbo assumed that he would have to go over soon to stop them from becoming gardeners, because ‘these two flowers are much happier next to each other Mister Bilbo.’

 Bilbo also had to keep an eye on Merry, Pippin, and Gimli; who were playing in the sand box. The cousins may trick the three year old into eating the sand again.

Kili was playing on the small swing set. Surprisingly Kili was very quiet today, he was most likely off in his own world, shooting arrows and trying to be majestic like his uncle. “I’m gonna grow my hair wong wike his!”

Bilbo would look up from the book he was reading to check on the boys. Flowers still in the dirt. Gimli was not eating sand; though the castle they were building didn’t look very structurally sound. Kili was in front of him.

“Mister Bilbo,” Bilbo put his bookmark in the book and set it down next to him on the bench.

“Yes Kili?”

“My tummy hurts.” The brunette boy was holding his stomach.

“Okay, what does it feel like-” Goodbye new shoes. Kili had puked on them before Bilbo could finish his question. “Come here Kili,” he picked the boy up, balancing him against his waist. “Alright boys, time to go inside.

Bilbo held the door open as he ushered the children inside away from mess. “No Merry you cannot poke it. Now come along.”

 

Bilbo had gotten the bucket out from under the sink in the kitchen, just in time to avoid being covered with vomit. Bilbo held Kili’s hair and rubbed his back as the poor little boy puked his heart out. He had Kili sitting on the counter in the kitchen, the others were watching from the doorway.

 “Frodo go get my phone please. It’s the left-hand pocket of my bag.”  He needed to call Dis. His nephew nodded and went into his office to find his phone.

“Boys please go play. Kili is going to be fine.” He assured them and eventually they wandered back over to the toys, still sneaking glances into the kitchen.

“Here you go Unca.” Frodo handed Bilbo his cell phone.

“Thank you Frodo. Go play with the others.”

 

He rinsed out the bucket as he called Dis’ number. Kili had stopped vomiting, and had fallen asleep on the counter. Pippin was sent in with a pillow and one of the nap time blankets.

No answer.

He tried again.

Still no answer.

She must be in a meeting or something. Bilbo tried Kili’s second emergency contact, his uncle.

 

“Thorin Oakensheild.” A deep voice answered the phone. It occurred to Bilbo in that all of the time he had known Dis, he had never met anyone other than her brother Frerin, who had died in a horrible accident a few years before Fili was born.

“Hello, my name is Bilbo Baggins. I run the daycare that your nephew Kili goes to; I’m calling because he has gotten sick. I’ve tried calling Dis, but it keeps going to voice mail. Your listed as one of the emergency contacts.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, I think he just has a stomach bug. He doesn’t have a fever or anything else; he just vomited. He’s sleeping now.”

“I will come pick him up and take him home.”

“Okay, do you need the address?”

“No thank you. I will be there in a few minutes.”

“Very well, see you soon.” Bilbo hung up the phone.

He checked on the other boys quickly before moving Kili to the couch in his office. He’d clean up themes outside after Kili’s uncle had picked him up.

Bilbo was once again struck with the idea that he could us another pair of hands to help him take care of all these rascals.

 

His phone rang; it was Dis. Bilbo picked up the call as fast as he could.

“What has Kili done now?”

“He got sick all over my shoes.”

“Is he okay? What happened? I’ll come and pick him up right now.”

“It’s okay Dis, you don’t need to come. Your brother is on his way.”

“You reached my brother before me?” Dis asked, sounding disbelieving. Weird Dis’ brother had picked up on the first ring.

“Is there something odd about that?”

“No, no, it’s nothing…”

“If you want I could give the boys a ride home today. That way they don’t have to walk without Kili.”

“Could you? Thank you so much Bilbo. You are the best!”

“I know.”

 

About five minutes after Bilbo had hung up with Dis, a large man in a suit who bore an almost frightening resemblance to Dis, entered his daycare. He had a presence to him that screamed he was someone of power and importance. Another wave of Déjà-vu swept over Bilbo.

“Hi, you must be Thorin.” Bilbo offered his hand. “I’m Bilbo Baggins.” Out of the corner of his eye he could see the boys trying to sneak a peek at the visitor.

Thorin’s hand shake was firm; he was obviously restringing his strength.

“Thorin Oakenshield.”

Gimli waved to Thorin, who smiled and waved back. “Hello Gimli.” Bilbo’s breath was knocked out of him. That smile was familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

“Kili’s right in here.” Bilbo pushed the thoughts away for now. He led Thorin into his office.

Thorin picked up the sleeping boy, holding him with one arm. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Thorin looked down and saw Bilbo was barefoot. He raised an eyebrow. “He got sick all over my shoes, I still have to clean the mess up outside.” He shrugged.

“I apologize; we’ll pay for new shoes.”

“It’s okay, didn’t really like them any way; too tight.”

 

After Bilbo had helped Thorin get Kili into his black SUV, Bilbo went back inside. He didn’t want to tell the boys more of the story and have Kili miss it. Bilbo thought of a better activity for the afternoon.

 

Fili and Ori were running late. There school was supposed to get out half an hour ago. Bilbo checked hi watch again. Maybe he would call Dis again. Gimli, Frodo, and Sam were playing on the swings. All of Pippin and Merry had been picked up about twenty minutes ago.

“Mr. Bilbo!” Fili called out. He and Ori were running down the sidewalk. They both hoped the daycare fence.

“You know that there’s a gate, literally two feet away, right?” Bilbo said with good hearted laughter.

“Where’s Kee?” Fili asked noticing his brother wasn’t on the swings with the others.

“He got sick earlier today. You uncle picked him up.” Bilbo closed his book again, standing up. “I’m going to drive you boys’ home today. Oh and they all made Kili some get well cards.”

 

Fili sat in the passenger seat, Fili sat in the very back next to Gimli’s car seat, and Frodo and Sam sat in their normal booster seats. Frodo told Sam, Ori, and Gimli, all about the blue horsey he drew yesterday.

“Sorry we were late. I got held up by one of my teachers. He’s really mean; and he likes to pick on me.”

“Have you told the principal?”

“No, why would I? I think he would just hate me more. He doesn’t like Aragorn either.”

“Well Principal Gamgee wouldn’t stand for that type of behavior if he knew it was going on.”

“How do you know about Principal Gamgee?” Ori asked from the back.

“I’ve known Mr. Gamgee since before you all were born.”

“He’s my Da!” Sam said proudly.

“If you mention that you know me, I think you’ll find yourself on his good side.” Fili smiled.  

 

After dropping Fili, Gimli, and Ori off outside their apartment building, Bilbo took Sam and Frodo grocery shopping. Both boys were always fascinated with cereal aisle; there was just so much!

 

When Bilbo arrived home, there was a man at his front door. He didn’t recognize the man, nor did anyone move in recently. Maybe he was the Sackville-Baggins’ new lawyer. So help him god, if he was he would throw the man off his porch with his bare hands. They were not getting his house and that was final.

Bilbo let Sam and Frodo out of the van. Keeping himself in between the man and the boys.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, I think you can.” Bilbo moved past then men to his door groceries in hand. “I am a representative of the Gundabaug Co. and we would like to purchase your daycare.”

“No.” Bilbo opened his green door, pushing Frodo and Sam inside, and placing the bags in his hands on the ground next to the door; before turning back to the man.

“We are only interested in the building, and are willing to pay a large amount of cash.”

“No thank you.”

“You haven’t even heard the amount.”

“I don’t need to, I’m not selling.” The man was testing Bilbo’s extreme patience.

“You have to understand.”

“I understand perfectly. It’s you who doesn’t. I’m not selling.”

“Please at least hear out my offer.”

“I have heard it, and my answer is still no. please leave my property.” Bilbo closed to door on his face. When will the stupid investors leave him alone? Bilbo thought to himself as he picked up the bags he had left on the floor, heading into the kitchen to start dinner.


	4. Blue Berry Pancakes and Pictures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo makes pancakes and gets a disturbing package in the mail.

 

Later that evening Bilbo called Dis; He had put Frodo and Sam to bed an hour ago and needed to talk to someone over the age of five.

She picked up on the first ring.

“I was just about to call you.”

“How’s Kili?”

“Better. Apparently the reason he got sick was because Fili had dared him to eat six bugs, and he did.”

“You must be so proud.” Bilbo said stifling his laughter.

“He’s a little on the slow side, but he’d do anything his brother asked without question or hesitation.” She said with a sigh. “At least Fili regrets it.”

“Oh, Dis. You didn’t punish him to hard, did you?”

“I didn’t have to punish him at all. He took one look at his brother and burst into tears, telling me everything. He cares so much; but sometimes I think when together they’re idiocy increases.”

Bilbo laughed.

“Oh, and I’m sorry about the shoes.”

“It’s no problem. You know how I feel about them anyway. It just gave me an excuse to walk around barefoot.” He said with a smile. “Oh! Do you know what happened when I got home?”

“The Sackville-Baggins’ are trying to sue you again?” it was a good guess.

“No, there was a man from the ‘Gundabaug Co.’ waiting for me. He said they were interested in purchasing my building.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“No, he offered me lots of money though.”

“What did you do?”

“I slammed the door in his face.” The both burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“You didn’t?” Dis asked once the laughter died down a bit.

“I did.” They couldn’t help themselves. Once the laughter died down a bit Bilbo remembered something. “You know what’s weird?  A huge bald man with tattoos came to my door last night. He gave me a card and warned me about someone wanting to take my business. It was so familiar too… like it had happened before. And then he just left.”

“Did he have a beard?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“That was Dwalin. He’s a family friend. He most likely gave you a direct line to Thorin.”

“Speaking of family, today I noticed that I haven’t actually met Thorin before. All of the times we went over to your house in high school I only ever met Frerin. So why would I need a direct line to Thorin?”

“Just in case anyone bothers you. The reason as to why you never met Thorin before was because he worked for my father at the time; he’s the oldest so he needed to be prepared to take over the family business. So what did you think of my big brother? Find him attractive? Huh?” It sounded like Dis was wrestling with someone on the other end of the phone.

“He was okay I guess. We did talk much, he picked up Kili and left. There was something kind of familiar about how he smiled at Gimli though…” Bilbo trailed off. “You two look very much alike; only he’s much hairier than you.”

“You think he’s hot, don’t you?” he could practically hear the smirk in her voice.

“Well…”

“I should totally set you two up! Maybe you can PULL THAT STICK OUT OF HIS ASS!” She yelled away from the phone.

“Is-is he in the same room as you?!”

“No, I locked myself in the bathroom. I was yelling so he could me.”

“Dis!” Bilbo yelped.

“You’re blushing aren’t you? You are so blushing; I can hear your checks burning through the phone.”

“You and Frodo are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. No arguments. And don’t try to use any excuses. And don’t make any food either; I’m going to make a nice diner so you can properly meet Thorin.”

“Dis,”

“Ah, ah, ah. No excuses. Bye Bilby!”

“Bye Dee.” she hung up before answering. Bilbo sighed, why was he friends with that crazy lady?

 

Why him? Bilbo asked himself. He wiped the tears out of his eyes, as he sat up. He had just watch Richard die before his eyes. He rarely had his nightmare; but it hurt more and more each time. As Martin he watched his only love die in his arms. It hurt so much, like a painful scaring memory.

When he told the boys of what happened after the battle he would change the story. Richard and his nephews would live. Martin would return to his hobbit hole, every few years visiting his friends in the lonely mountain. Maybe he would tell them the real ending one day… most likely not.

 

Bilbo poked his head into Frodo’s room. He had put all of his toys away in the toy chest like promised. Bilbo found his nephew and godson both drooling in Frodo’s bed. Bilbo grimaced, that was a lot of drool. Good thing Bilbo had a strong stomach.

He pulled his head out of the room. He’d make them wash their faces before they ate. Speaking of breakfast Bilbo was in the mode for blueberry pancakes.

Before Bilbo could start breakfast he had to go out and get the mail. He forgot to get it after he slammed the door in that man’s face yesterday.

It was still a little dark out as Bilbo walked on the dew wet grass along his drive way. He was barefoot.  He and his nephew shared a similar dislike of shoes, and went without them as often as possible. The cold grass didn’t bother him; he has always had thick skin when it came to his feet.

Bilbo got the mail and started going through it on his way back to the porch. Bills, bills, junk, letter from the Underhill’s, letter from his Aunt, letter from the Sackville-Baggins’ (aka junk.) at the bottom of the pile there was a manila envelope.  Bilbo stepped up on his porch. He was about to open the envelop, when he noticed something on his door.

“Oh, damn that cat!” his neighbor’s cat had been scratching at his door again, chipping away his nice green paint. He had only had it painted last week! He could see the ugly blue color shining through. He would have to talk to that blasted cat’s owner.

Bilbo brought the mail into his office. He opened the envelope. Some photos slid out of it.

Bilbo pushed away from the table so hard he tipped his chair backwards. He hit the ground with a thud. Frodo and Sam ran into the room with plastic swords.

“Unca! Are you kay?” Frodo asked sword raise looking for an attacker.

“Its okay boys, I just fell out of my chair.” Bilbo told them is a shaky voice as he scrambled up covering the pictures with the other mail.  He picked up the chair. “You boys can go back to bed.”

“What ‘bout daycare?” Sam asked confused.

“The cleaning man told me that the lights aren’t working. So we can’t go in without any lights. We wouldn’t be able to see if there are any monsters lurking in the dark waiting to tickle little kids; well not without Sting at least.”

“Okay Unca.” Frodo and Sam went back to Frodo’s room.

Bilbo looked back t the desk that had the pictures covered with mail.

 

“Dis?” he asked when she picked up the phone. This was his third phone call this morning. He had already called Esmeralda and Paladin telling them he couldn’t watch Merry and Pippin given a emergency that had just come up, and apologizing on it being such short notice.

“Bilbo, you sound terrible.”

“I-I can’t watch Kili and Gimli today. Something has come up.”

“Bilbo what’s wrong? You sound like you’re going to cry.”

“I might just. I’m scarred Dee. I-I found an envelope in my mail this morning. It had pictures in it. Pictures of me and Frodo, Dee. There was nothing else just pictures. They had some of the daycare and the other boys as well!” Bilbo was hyperventilating slightly.

“What?!”

“I-I-I don’t know what to do! I called Esmeralda and Paladin and told them to keep their children home. I’m so scarred. Dis-“

“Bilbo! Breathe! It’s okay I’m coming over right now. Don’t go outside. And lock your doors until I get there. It’s going to be alright. Try and keep calm for Frodo.”

“Sam. Sam is over right now! He and Frodo had a sleep over last night! Oh god am I putting them in danger?!” Bilbo started to ramble in panic, his breaths were getting shallower and he was becoming light headed.

“BILBO!” Bilbo froze and listened to Dis’ calm voice. “It’s fine. Just lock your doors and draw the shade closed okay? We’ll be there in eight minutes.”

“Okay, okay.” Bilbo’d breaths became deeper as he closed all the curtains and locked his front door.

“Now act like everything’s normal. Make Yourself and the boys some breakfast. It’s going to be okay. I have to hang up now. Will you be okay?”

“Y-yes.” He said shakily.

 

Bilbo started to make blueberry pancakes with shaky hands.

“Unca?” Bilbo jumped slightly, almost dropping the pancake mix. Frodo and Sam were standing in the kitchen archway in their pjs. “Are you kay?”

“Yes, boys. I’m going to be fine.” He lied.

“Can we help make da pancakes?” Sam asked.

“Of course,” he smiled baking with Sam and Frodo always got his mind off of his problems. He brought the blow over to the table grabbing two place mats. “Here you boys stir the mix, I already got started. I’ll get the blue berries.” Bilbo instructed them moving to the pantry.

“Can we pwease add choco-chips too?” Bilbo smiled, sometimes his nephew was just too cute. How could he say no?


	5. Mob wars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From now on Bilbo's thoughts will be Italicized.

 

Frodo and Sam were mixing in the blue berries and chocolate chips when there was a knock on the door. Bilbo moved silently to the door with frying pan in hand. He looked through the pep-hole. He sighed when he saw Dis. There were other men with her; one being Thorin, and another being the man with the tattoos from the other night. Dwalin his mind supplied. There was one more man, he looked very old and had a long beard similar to Dwalin’s.

Bilbo undid the three locks on his door. (You learn to have more than one lock with relatives like Lobelia.)

Dis threw herself into Bilbo’s arms who hugged her just as tightly.

He let them in. They followed Bilbo back to the kitchen.

“Unca can we cook the pancakes now?” Frodo asked. Within the minute he had answered the door, both Sam and Frodo had gotten some of the mix in their hair.

“On one condition; you tell me how you got covered in pancake mix in the minute I was gone.” Frodo pointed to Sam; Sam pointed to Frodo. Bilbo sighed.

“Bilbo, show Thorin the pictures. I’ll take care of the bys and breakfast.” Dis patted him on the shoulder.

“Hi Mrs. Kili’s Mom.” Sam waved, as she took the pan from Bilbo.

“I thought I told you to call me Auntie Dis.”

 

Bilbo showed Thorin and the other two men into his office. He shakily handed them the pictures. He tried not to look at them.

“You found these in your mail box laddie?” The grey bearded man asked. Bilbo nodded.

“I was supposed to get the mail yesterday, but there was a man at my door. It just slipped my mind.”

“What did the man say?” it seemed that the old man was the only who was going to talk.

“That his company wa-was interested in buying my daycare building. He-he offered me lots of money; I turned him down.”

“Do you remember the name of the company?”

“Gundabaug, I think…” Bilbo rubbed his forehead. This was getting to be too much.

“Pancakes are ready!” Dis called relieving some of the tension in the room.

 

Breakfast was awkward. Bilbo, Dis, Frodo, and Sam ate at Bilbo’s kitchen table. Thorin and the other two men were discussing something in Bilbo’s office.

After breakfast, Dis helped Bilbo give Sam and Frodo a bath, before sitting him down in his favorite arm chair with a cup of tea. She had to talk to her brother and see wanted to see the photos herself.

Bilbo could hear their conversation.

“What do you think Thorin? Is it a threat?”

“I’m not sure why Saruman wants the building, but I am sure he has crossed a line. Bilbo did nothing to him or his business. He’s a civilian.” _Who was this Saruman person?_

“It’s all grandfather’s fault! If he hadn’t started this stupid war-!”  _War?_

“Calm down Dis.”

“I will not calm down Balin! My best friend is terrified, for his life, for his nephew’s life, for the life of the other  _innocent_  children that attend his daycare! For all the improvements you have made since taking over Thorin, my friend is in more danger then he ever was before!”

“What would you have me do?” there was no malice in Thorin’s voice. He just sounded tired.

“Let me tell him; he deserves to know. Especially since his life is in danger only because of us.”

“He would be in more danger if he knew.”

“He would be part of the family. He basically is already. Fili, Kili, Ori, and Gimli love him. You will protect him anyway. You know that if he turned down Saruman’s men, they will not give up. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt in anyway just because he’s my friend and watches your nephews!”

“You are correct once again sister. Tell him.” There was a pause. “Balin will escort you home afterwards,”  _Don’t go Dis_!  “Dwalin will stay be hind.”

“You are not the boss of me Thorin Oakensheild. I will stay with my friend, and so will you. Or so help me god, I will beat you so hard, they will need a body bag.” Bilbo shuttered taking a drink of his tea; Dis was terrifying. He remembered why he was never on her bad side. “Balin, please find out who took those photos. Dwalin please find someone to watch the street indefinitely.”

Bilbo got the feeling that Dis actually had no power over them, but they were going to follow her orders anyway.

 

Dis entered the living room, sitting next to Bilbo on the other chair. Bilbo was staring intently into his tea. He could hear Sam and Frodo playing in Frodo’s room; sounded like race cars today.

“Bilbo, how are you doing?” Bilbo looked up to his friend.

“I don’t know.”

“I have something to tell you. But please don’t freak out or think of my family differently.” Bilbo nodded, he could never think of Dis’s family as anything but an extension of his own… that he hasn’t really met? Even with the incriminating conversation he just over heard. “My grandfather Thror started his business from scratch. He kind of became a mob boss…”

Dis awaited Bilbo’s reaction. He just slowly nodded, staring at her.

“He past control down to my father, and then to Thorin; don’t worry he’s trying to legitimize the business.” no response.

“My family is one of two mobs in the city.” It was clear she wasn’t going to get Bilbo to say anything right now. “We’re at war with the other one; it’s run by this guy Saruman. We think he wants to get ride of you for some reason.” Dis saw that Bilbo was getting a little light headed. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, or Frodo, or the Gamgees, or any of the other boys and their families. Don’t worry.”

Dis rubbed his arm to try and calm her friend. It didn’t work. Bilbo passed out.

 

Bilbo woke up in his own bed.

_Please be a dream, please be a dream. Please-_

“Bilbo.” Damn it. Bilbo turned his head to the side, Dis was sitting on the bed next to him. “How are you feeling?”

“A little like I just found out my best friend is part of a mob family and my nephew's life is in danger.” Well that came out a little harsher then he intended it too. Oh well, he had a damn good reason to be pissed.

“Bilbo, I’m sorry. I never wanted to lie to you. Keeping you from knowing my families business was the safest thing until now.” Dis always had a way of making Bilbo feel guilty when he knows he shouldn’t be.

“I forgive you Dee. I’m just scarred.”

“It’s okay. I understand, it’s a lot to take in.” she helped him sit up and handed him a glass of water.

“Where are Frodo and Sam?” Bilbo asked after taking a drink.

“Interrogating Thorin. He’s going to stay with you for a few days.”

“Doesn’t he have a mob to run?”

“Business.” Dis corrected. “He can do it all from his phone. He has lots of close combat and weapons training. If anyone can keep you and Frodo safe it’s him.” Bilbo just stared at her. “What?”

“You’re still trying to set us up, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“Liar.” Bilbo accused.

 

This was possibly the cutest thing Bilbo had ever seen. Frodo and Sam were sitting across the table from Thorin, trying to glare at him; key word there being: trying. Their atemp at intimidation didn’t have the desired effect. In fact Thorin was hardly keeping a straight face.

“Boys, staring is rude.” Bilbo scolded half-heartedly as he and Dis entered the kitchen.

“Unca!” both boys jumped out of their chairs and latched onto Bilbo’s legs. Bilbo laughed along with them.

“What’s for lunch?” he asked them. It was about noon now.

“Hot dogs!” Sam suggested.

“And carrots!” Frodo added.

“Very well, would you like to help?” he asked them. They nodded against his legs. “Then you have to let go.”

“But we don’t want too!”

“As you wish.” It was slightly harder to walk around with two five year olds on your legs, but Bilbo managed.  

 

Bilbo made hot dogs for Frodo, Sam, Dis, Thorin, and Himself.

As they were eating Frodo asked if they could hear more about Martin; Dis laughed to herself.

“You’re still telling that old story?” Dis laughed

“Unca told you the story too, Auntie Mrs. Kili’s mom?”

Dis smiled, “Yes, he told me about every night in four years. He dreamed it up, did you know? He would always call me late at night saying trolls had almost eaten him alive! Oh and you should of heard him go on about Richard! I think he fell in love with his dreams!” Dis nudged Bilbo, who was blushing.

“Did not!” Bilbo’s whole face was red. “Don’t listen to her; she used to think that Aiden and Dean shouldn’t have gone on the quest, always so protective about _my_ dream.” Bilbo smirked when she blushed. “Anyway, Frodo you know the rules. Everyone hears or no one hears.”

It was only fair.

“But Mr. Thorin hasn’t heard it!” Sam pointed out, “You could start from the beginning.”

All eyes turned to Thorin. “Um,”

“I’d be happy to tell it from the beginning; if you all want to listen.”

“Of course he wants to hear it!” Dis answered for her brother.

“Okay. So our story starts in a hole in the ground, because there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole…”


	6. Goldfish

 

Dis had gone home after they reached the point the kids were at in the story. She promised to bring Fili and Kili by with diner and so things for Thorin later.

 

Bilbo would walk Sam home when his mother arrived home.

 

Currently they were playing Gold Fishys with a deck of cards. It has the same rules a go fish but, you gambled Goldfish. Most of the cheesy fish were eaten before the game was done. Goldfish weren’t a stable currency when it came to five year olds.

Thorin had to take a break when he got phone call. He was in Bilbo’s office talking to whoever it was. Bilbo was guarding his cards from the prying eyes of two little boys.

“Unca do you got any twees?” Frodo asked. From here Bilbo could see both Sam and Frodo’s cards; Frodo had three 3s. And Bilbo had the last one.

“’Do you _have_ any 3s?’” he corrected.

“Unca it’s not your turn!” Frodo pulled the cards against his chest. Bilbo shook his head with a smile as he handed Frodo his 3. “I got a match!” he said proudly showing the four cards of to Sam.

“My turn!” Sam said excitedly, “Frodo do you have any kings?”

 _You had a king once._ His mind told him.

“Uh uh. Go fishy! Unca it’s your turn!” Bilbo snapped out of his own world.

“Sorry boys. Alright,” He looked over his cards, three 5s, two aces, one king, and a 7. He looked between Frodo and Sam, making them anxious. “Sam… do you have any… 7s?”

“Go fishy!” Bilbo drew a card from the pile and took one gold fish.

It was Thorin’s turn. He was still on the phone. “We’ll skip Thorin for now boys; he can have his turns as soon as he gets back.”

“Sam do you have any… 2s?” Frodo asked; Sam handed him a card.

The house phone rang. Bilbo got up to answer it. “I’ll be right back. No cheating.” Bilbo set his cards down next to Thorin’s. He answered the phone from the kitchen where he could still see the boys in the living room.

“Baggins residence.” He answered making a ‘I’m watching you’ sign with his hands at Frodo and Sam.

“Mr. Baggins, did you like my pictures?” Bilbo’s smile fell instantly, his eyes focused somewhere above the boys. He swallowed.

“W-who are you? What do you want?” Bilbo demanded. Thorin walked back into view, he said something to the boys who pointed to Bilbo.

“To show you your reasons.” Bilbo swallowed again. Thorin moved quickly to Bilbo when he saw the fear clearly written over his features.

“W-what reasons?” Thorin pressed his ear against the back of the phone. Some of his long hair brushed against Bilbo’s face.

“To sell your building.” The phone clicked. Bilbo put it back on the base; taking a deep breath.

“What else did he say?”Thorin asked.

“I-if I liked his pictures.”

“They will not hurt you or any of the boys.” Bilbo nodded, and then he realized just how close he and Thorin were still standing to each other. He blushed slightly.

“We should go back to the boys; I think they’re sneaking a look at our cards.”

Dis stayed true to her word and returned about an hour after Bilbo and Thorin had walked Sam next door when his mom got home. She had a suit case for Thorin, diner in the form of spaghetti and meatballs, and her sons. She mentioned someone by the name of Nori was going to be watching the block.

 

Frodo was very excited to show his room off to the brothers. He also bragged about helping to make breakfast with Sam.

 

Diner was nice. For Bilbo it had more people than usual, but it was nice. Dis embarrassed both Bilbo and Thorin, even if Thorin was better at hiding it. She told them stories from school; like when she and Frerin forced Bilbo to compete in a barrel riding competition. She also told stories about Thorin; like how he attacked a bully with a tree branch.

 Kili and Frodo begged Fili and Dis to tell them the rest of the story because they knew it was useless to ask Bilbo. Both refused, even when the boys broke out their double puppy eyes. Fili almost cracked. If they had held out two more minutes they wouldn’t have to wait till the next day to hear the end.

 

Bilbo showed Thorin to guest room. It was right next to his.

Bilbo said good night, checked on Frodo, and then went to bed.

 

_“No.” Bilbo felt the tear trail down his face._

_“I am sorry my love. I was blinded by greed. Please forgive me.”_

_“I will always forgive you.” Bilbo rubbed Thorin’s hand against his face, kissing the knuckles._

_“Goodbye my love.”Thorin’s was growing weaker. “I will find you in the next life…” He helplessly clutched Thorin’s hand in his own as it went limper._

_“No! NO!”_

“NO!” Bilbo was jolted awake by two large hands grasping his shoulders.

“Bilbo!” for a split second Bilbo thought he was still in his dream. His king was there, not an arm’s length away. He threw his arms around Thorin’s neck and started sobbing. The dreams hadn’t affected him this much since he was a teen; Thorin’s arm wrapped around his waist, just holding him.

“Is Unca kay?”

“Yes, it’s just a bad dream.” Bilbo wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation going on around him, the nightmare so fresh in his mind.

“Unca says you make bad dreams go bye-bye with hugs, and kiss, and lots of love!” Frodo said proudly as he climbed up onto the bed with Thorin and Bilbo. He tapped Bilbo’s shoulder.

Reluctantly Bilbo released Thorin turning to his nephew, who smiled at him.

“Right Unca Bilbo? Lots of love!” he gave Bilbo a toothy grin. Bilbo gave the boy a teary a teary smile in return.

“Frodo would you sleep in here with me for the rest of the night?” Bilbo asked, he could tell Thorin was feeling a bit awkward, so it was best to get everyone back to bed.

“If Unca Thorin stays!” he probably picked that up from Dis, Fili, and Kili.

“Frodo, Thorin doesn’t have to-”

“It’s fine. I will stay.” Bilbo looked shocked at Thorin as he and Frodo crawled under the covers. Frodo curled up against Bilbo’s chest, and was asleep almost instantly.

Thorin and Bilbo were both on their sides, facing the other with Frodo in between them.

“You don’t have to do this…” Bilbo said, letting his eyes wander over Frodo’s sleeping face, taking in the innocence.

“I said it is fine. I know how just having someone next to you can help with nightmares.” Thorin paused.

“What were yours about? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“My story.” Bilbo said after a minute; for some reason he trusted Thorin. “I see it almost every night. It doesn’t have the happy ending that I normally tell. Richard, Aidan, and Dean die in the end. Martin is there till Richard’s last breath.”

It was quiet for a minute. “They loved each other. I have only seen it through _as_ Martin. It hurts like I just watched my own love die before my eyes. I know it’s just a stupid dream but… it just feels so real.”

Nothing else was said for the rest of the night.


	7. A New Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.
> 
> Thorin goes to the daycare with Bilbo.
> 
> Advancement in Thilbo.

Chapter 7:

In the morning Bilbo woke up feeling much better than he had in a long time.

At some point during the night, Frodo had crawled off Bilbo onto Thorin. It was so cute to see his nephew drooling on the man’s chest. Thorin was spread out on his back, limbs everywhere; don’t even get Bilbo started on his hair!

Bilbo took a couple of pictures with his phone before going to take a shower.

 

By the time Bilbo was out of his quick shower, both Thorin and Frodo were up. Bilbo didn’t see them in the kitchen when he started the kettle, nor were they in his room, when he returned to get dressed.

Hopefully they went to their respective rooms to get dressed.

 

After Bilbo was dressed he started making breakfast. It was Thursday so that meant cereal. Bilbo got out two bowls for Frodo and Himself. He poured Frodo some of the sugary cereal he loved; today Bilbo was going to see what Frodo liked some much about it.

The kettle started to whistle on the stove. Bilbo set the bowls of dry cereal on the table. He turned off stove and started to make himself some tea.

“Good morning Unca!” Frodo said happily as he came into the kitchen. His shirt was on backwards.

“Arms in.” Bilbo instructed, as he set his mug on the table. The raven haired boy laughed as he pulled his arms into his shirt. Bilbo smiled fondly as he helped Frodo twist it around till it was on the right way. “Eat your cereal.” Bilbo ruffled Frodo’s curly locks as he went to the fridge.

Frodo climbed up in his chair to inspect the sugary flakes sitting in the small bowl.

“Unca you forgot the malk again!”

“Milk, I forgot the  _milk_  again.” Bilbo said as he poured the milk he got from the fridge into their bowls.

 

Thorin came into the kitchen a few minute later. He was dress much less formally than yesterday; he was only wearing a pair of jeans a wife beater, and a jacket. Bilbo blamed Dis.

“Good morning!” Frodo said around a mouth full of cereal. Some milk dribbling down his chin.

“Frodo, what did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?” Bilbo scolded as he wiped Frodo’s chin with a napkin.

“Is rude an’ dwarvish!” he repeated happily. Bilbo could hear Thorin chuckling.

“Don’t encourage him.” Bilbo turned to Thorin, “Would you like some breakfast? We have lots of cereal, and I think there are some bagels in the pantry.” Bilbo offered.

“No thank you. Do you have any coffee?”

“Not here. There’s a coffee machine at the daycare.” They had decided the night before with Dis, that Thorin was going to follow Bilbo to the daycare. He could work in Bilbo’s office if he needed to; and Bilbo was always saying he could use an extra pair of hands helping him wrangling the children.

 

Esmeralda carried Merry into the daycare around 8 o’clock.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.” He apologized, taking the half asleep boy from her arms.

“I understand Bilbo. It’s okay. Paladin had the day off yesterday, he was able to watch Pippin and Merry.” She kissed Merry’s head before leaving.

 

Bilbo gave Merry some cereal and set in up at the table. He ruffled Frodo’s hair who was drawing at the table with Sam.

 

Thorin exited Bilbo’s office when Paladin dropped Pippin off. Bilbo was apologizing to Paladin. Thorin looked down and saw a little boy staring at him. The boy only moved when Frodo called him over to the table.

“Ah, Thorin.” Thorin turned his attention to Bilbo. “This is Paladin Took, he’s one of my cousins.”  Bilbo introduced.

Thorin extended his hand. “Thorin Oakensheild.” He greeted.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

“Thorin is going to be helping me take care of the children for a while.” Bilbo lied smoothly to explain Thorin’s presence.

“Well I have to go to work now, Goodbye Bilbo, Thorin.” He patted his cousin on the shoulder. “Goodbye boys!” He called to the children.

“Bye bye Daddy!” Pippin waved.

“Bye Mr. Took!” Frodo and Sam said in unison.

“Bye Uncle Pally!” Merry waved, haven been woken up by Pippin.

 

Dis drove the boys to school on her way to work. Bilbo suspected that they wouldn’t be walking to school for a while. Fili and Ori were waitingin the car. Bilbo welcomed Kili and Gimli into the game of 'duck duck goose' that they were playing. he over heard a bit of Thorin and Dis' conversation.

"Why did you give me these clothes? They're all tight." Thorin complained.

Bilbo wasn't complaining...

_Oh god! did he really just think that?!_

"I know." She smirked, "Bye boys, bye Bilbo!" She waved goodbye and left. Bilbo could see Thorin's eye twitching from here.

 

Bilbo went about his day like usual; he could feel Thorin watching him from the kitchen. You know, for a mob boss Thorin didn't do a lot of actual work. He just sat in the kitchen reading one of Bilbo's books. Though Bilbo could tell he had been reading the same page for over an hour now.

"Mr. Bilbo could we hear more of the story now?" Pippin asked.

"Of course, i almost forgot. Thank you Pippin." the Boy smiled before he scurried with the other boys in the corner.

 

Bilbo told them about how Martin and Richard had a fight over the Arkenstone, and how Bilbo was banished. Let’s just say Richard's approval rating dropped among the boys. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thorin flinch in the kitchen, and burry himself deeper into the book. Then Bilbo told them about the beginning of the battle. How each of his friends fought with passion to save their newly saved home. He told them how Martin fought as well; staying hidden with the help of the ring.

 

"That's when Martin saw him. Richard." He had the attention of all the boys; even Thorin in the kitchen. "Martin remembered why he stayed to fight. Even if the king would hurt him, he stilled cared about Richard. A goblin archer saw Richard before Richard saw him. But by the time the arrow had been shot it was too late for Richard to block it."

The boys gasped. It appeared as if Kili would break Pippin's hand, he was squeezing it so tight.

"The arrow never touched Richard, something had stopped it." everyone relaxed. "Tomorrow you will know how, because it's nap time."

"Aw." the boys groaned.

"Can you finish da story, pwease?" Kili begged.

"If I do you won’t have any more stories for tomorrow. Now just have a quick nap and you boys can play outside.”

 

Nap time only lasted about an hour giving Bilbo and Thorin some peace and quiet. Now the boys were playing outside.

Sam and Frodo were taking turns pushing Gimli on the swings, and Kili, Merry, and Pippin were doing something Bilbo couldn’t see over by the flowers. His book sat abandoned in his lap. Whatever they were doing couldn’t be good…

“Hello.” Bilbo looked away from them as Thorin sat down next to him.

“Oh, hello.”

 It was an awkward silence for a minute or two before Thorin asked, “Is Frodo your son?”

“No, he’s my nephew. His parents died he when he was two years ago.”

“I’m sorry.” Thorin probably felt like a dick, but Bilbo didn’t mind answering his questions.

“It’s okay. I had to fight for him against my greedy relatives; they never quite got over my father leaving me his house.” It lapsed into another silence for a while before Thorin spoke up again.

“How did you meet Dis?”

It was a simple question, but Bilbo burst out laughing. “I’m sorry.” He said in between laughs. “We had a home economics class together, and…” he started laughing again. “We had to ‘raise’ an egg.” Bilbo’s face was tomato red from laughing so hard. “We accidentally dropped it off a balcony and dropped onto the teacher.”

Thorin shook his head while chuckling. Bilbo could get used to that smile; it was simply to die for.

“Mr. Bilbo, Uncle! Help they’re trying to make me eat the mud!” Kili cried out running away from Merry and Pippin. The cousins had muddy hands, as did Kili. They had found some mud.

“Boys!” Bilbo yelled as he started to chase Merry and Pippin, who were chasing Kili. Thankfully Thorin scooped up his nephew, as the messy boy ran by.

“Should I tell your mother about this?” The mud covered boy in his arms paled. He shook his head very fast.

Bilbo walked up to Thorin, having caught both Merry and Pippin, holding each boy under one arm. Frodo and Sam were laughing on the swings. Gimli was confused, why couldn’t they play in the mud some more? Mud was fun.

“Thank you.” Bilbo says to Thorin, “Let’s get them washed up. Frodo, Sam, Gimli.” He called the boys as he headed to the door.

 

All three parents were told about the mud incident.

When Fili gave his brother a thumbs up, Dis smacked the back of his head; she then turned on him yelling about ‘what did I tell you about encouraging him?!’

 

Bell arrived home about the same time as Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, and Thorin did.

Frodo waved goodbye to his friend as he ran inside.

 

Bilbo made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

It was very nice being able to talk to someone above the age of five.

After Bilbo had cleaned the pasta sauce off Frodo’s face, he was surprised when Thorin wiped his check with his thumb. Apparently Frodo wasn’t the only one to get sauce on his face.

 

After Frodo went to bed Thorin and Bilbo stayed up for a while just talking. Just random things. How Bilbo got the daycare, Thorin’s childhood, Bilbo’s childhood, college, books, the onetime Bilbo had get rid of a miniature spider infestation in his dorm room, the time Thorin’s old dog ‘Smaug’ (“the most selfish mutt you have ever seen!”) stole all of his socks and made a small horde in the closet, Thorin mentioned something about his families most prized treasure (some gem or something, Bilbo didn’t really care.)

 

Thorin was good company once you got past his hard exterior. 


	8. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin has a surprise for Bilbo and Frodo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thorin's either not very busy, or very lazy. You would really think that a mob boss would have more things to do.

Thorin had been staying with Bilbo for a few weeks. He fit right into Bilbo’s life. He was also a big help at the daycare.

There were no more threats to Bilbo and Frodo so Thorin wouldn’t be staying with them for much longer. There would still be some of Thorin’s men watching Bilbo just incase. And Thorin was still going to come to the daycare; he had grown attached to the boys.

Today he had a few meetings, he arranged for one of his men to help/protect Bilbo.

 

The man’s name was Bofur. He arrived at the house just after Hamfast dropped off Sam. For some reason Bilbo thought he looked off… like he was missing something. He didn’t wear a suit like Balin or Dwalin had, he had on jeans and tee-shirt. 

It bothered Bilbo to no end that he couldn’t place what was off about Bofur. He was a cheerful guy, seemed like a good listener… just something was missing. Like a hat maybe? No, that wasn’t it. It didn’t really mater anyway.

 

Bofur was popular with the boys. He was a toy maker, or so Kili and Gimli bragged.  He was also a good singer. He got all the boys to sing along to the song from the beginning of the story. Kili and Gimli must have sung it for him or something.

 

Bilbo had finished the story two weeks ago, but the boys had wanted to hear the ending again.

“So, the orc archer fired at Richard, but the arrow never touched him. Richard looked down to where the arrow should have been sticking out of him. The arrow was stopped, just floating in mid air. Martin had caught it!” The boys cheered. Bofur looked a little confused; Bilbo continued. “Richard couldn’t see Martin because he was invisible, but he knew. ‘Martin.’ He said to himself. The hobbit gasped, Martin thought that the dwarf would be mad that he had stayed so he ran. Not knowing that during the battle Richard had realized his mistake and regretted his actions.”

 “No!” the boys gasped.

“Before Martin could get to far away, a stray rock hit him. There was no way who ever throw it even knew he hit something. The next thing Martin knew, he woke up in the very place that he fell. He wasn’t dead, but he had a nasty headache.  He could hear someone calling his name. A man found him. He said that lots of men were looking for him. The King under the Mountain himself was even looking.”

Smiles washed against all of the boys faces.

“Martin found Richard in a medical tent, arguing with Gandalf. Needless to say Richard begged for Martin’s forgiveness even though he knew he did not deserve it. What Richard didn’t know was that he already had it. Martin would always forgive Richard. That did not mean he was not mad and hurt. Let’s just say that Richard was in hot water for a long time.” Bilbo said with a laugh.

“What happened after the battle?” Kili asked.

“I told you last week.” Bilbo said shaking his head.

“We want to here again!” Merry joined in.

“Okay. So Richard begged Bilbo to stay in the lonely mountain. All of his friends did; they had grown attached to Martin and didn’t want him to go. Martin agreed to stay so long as he could get some things from his home. They all lived happily ever after.”

“That’s a lovely ending.” Bofur said happily.

“Thank you.”

 

Bofur stayed over for diner since Thorin wasn’t home-at Bilbo’s house- yet.

He even helped Bilbo do the dishes. While working they made idle conversation.

“Did you write that story?” Bofur asked drying off the dish Bilbo had just handed him.

“Sort of, it’s all about these dreams I have.”

“What do ya mean?” Bofur asked as he was handed another dish.

“Ever since I was little I’ve had dreams of this grand adventure! 13 dwarves, a powerful wizard, and a simple hobbit.” Bilbo paused to scrub away some stubborn sauce. “I don’t know where all this information comes from… I just know. You know?”

Bofur shrugged, taking another clean dish from Bilbo and drying it off.

“It’s weird. I can remember everything they ever said, did, what they were like. But I can never place their names or faces. When I try to remember it just becomes blurry.”

“Very weird…” Bofur said cryptically.

“The story I tell the kids isn’t the same one I dream about. My dreams are… darker.”

Bofur didn’t push to know more. In fact, he changed the subject. He started happily chattering away about his brother and cousin.

 

Bofur stayed the night on the couch.

No matter what he said Bilbo wasn’t worried about Thorin. He was grown man after all, Thorin could take care of himself.

 

That night Bilbo had his first nightmare in two weeks. It was about Richard’s death. _If he had only been faster._ Bilbo told himself as he cried silently.

He missed Thorin. He hadn’t even been gone a day. Bilbo knew he was coming back, but it was better just knowing that he was sleeping in the room over.

 

Bofur was gone in the morning. The couch was empty, blankets folded up neatly on top of the pillows.

Bilbo sniffed the air.

Some heavenly smell was coming from the kitchen.

Cautiously Bilbo peeked around the corner. He realized that if someone broke into his house, they wouldn’t cook in his kitchen, but you never know.

 Bilbo’s shoulders relaxed when he saw who was in his kitchen. He entered the room tossing his bat to the side.

Thorin raised an eyebrow at the bat, but said nothing. Bilbo finally saw what beautiful smell was. His table was covered with eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, pastries, and other delicious foods.

“You did all this?” he asked.

“Yes.” Bilbo narrowed his eyes at Thorin. “No. My cook made it for me to bring to you.”

“Bombur?” Bilbo asked, Thorin looked a little shocked. “Bofur is very proud of his brother.” Bilbo explained.

Thorin laughed. “I will wake Frodo for you. Sit down, eat, enjoy.” Thorin pushed him down into a chair.

 

Thorin returned with Frodo half asleep in his arms. Bilbo suspected that he had been up late talking to Sam on the walkie-talkies Bell had given them the other day. Bilbo helped Thorin put Frodo in his seat.

The raven haired boy proceeded to fall asleep on the table. Thorin and Bilbo shared a laugh before waking him up.

 

It was Saturday, so that meant no daycare. Bilbo didn’t have anything planned.

“Come on.” Bilbo was confused when Thorin pulled him out of his seat after breakfast. “I have made some plans for us today.” Thorin told him. “Frodo, go get dressed lad.” Thorin pushed his nephew in the direction of his room.

“Kay!” he said happily. It would be about ten minutes. Even though he struggled, Frodo liked to dress himself. It would be even longer if Sam was awake.

“So what are your plans?” Bilbo himself was fully dressed.

“Secret.”

“You’re no fun.”

Thorin smirked.

 

Thorin blindfolded Bilbo and Frodo. He helped them into Bilbo’s car.

The car ride was about twenty minutes. Bilbo tried to count the turns but he failed miserably. The car stopped. The driver door opened, and then closed. Then his door opened, Thorin helped Bilbo out.

“Was this nessicary?” Bilbo asked.

“No.” He could hear the smirk in Thorin’s voice. Bilbo heard the van door slide open. “Come here Frodo.” Thorin said. He most likely said that as to not frighten Frodo. Bilbo felt a hand on his shoulder. “This way.”

 

“Ready?” Thorin asked.

Bilbo could reply sarcastically, but that wouldn’t help. “Yes.”

“Uh huh!” Frodo agreed excitedly.

Thorin removed their blindfolds. Bilbo gasped they were in what looked to be a museum. Different kinds of rocks and gems inhabited the display cases around the room. In the center there was a stunning gem sitting in a lone display case.

“Cool!” Frodo said. Bilbo could see the attraction for his nephew, he was right it was very cool.

Frodo didn’t really pay any mind to the display case in the middle, he went over to the blue gems. He had to memorize everything to tell Sam! (he chose the blue ones because it was Sam’s favorite color, ‘silly Unca’.)

“My great grandfather was a miner. He found each of these in his minds and gave them to my grandfather.” Thorin told Bilbo.

“Wow.” Bilbo said in awe, walking forward. He walked around the case in the middle, captivated by its beauty.

“This is the Arkenstone. My families most prized possession.” Thorin followed Bilbo around the case.

“It’s amazing!”

“Thank you.”

“Unca, what’s this one called?” Frodo asked pointing to a sample of amethyst.

 

“If you had a choice between… being covered with honey and feathers or… dying your hair blue, what would you chose?” Bilbo asked Thorin, who was sitting across from him in a booth. After Thorin had shown them his family’s rock and mineral collection, which was apparently in the family mannor (no one lived there except for some staff, and was only used n special occasions.) they had gone out to lunch at a local dinner.

Bilbo and Thorin were invested in a game of ‘would you rather.’ While waiting for their food. Frodo had also challenged Thorin to a tournament of tic-tac-toe, on the back of the paper placemat.

Thorin placed his O before answering.

“Blue. I am never letting my nephews near me with honey and feathers _ever_ again.” He grimaced. “Go on a date with Dis…”

Bilbo shuttered. Frodo passed the paper back to Thorin. “Or… me?”

Bilbo blinked. Did Thorin just ask him out?

“You.” Bilbo replied blushing, “Dis is a nightmare.” He tried to play it off coolly

“Mrs. Auntie Dis is nice!” Frodo protested on her behalf. “She’s not a nigh’mare!”

Bilbo and Thorin laughed. “You will soon be her favorite.” Bilbo ruffled his nephew’s hair.


	9. a Date?

Chapter 9:

After lunch they went to the park so Frodo could burn off his energy. You see, when Bilbo went to the bathroom Thorin didn’t do a very good job was watching Frodo. By the time he had caught on, Frodo had downed at least half of Bilbo’s soda.

The five year old was now on a major sugar rush.

Bilbo sighed next to Thorin on the bench. His nephew was running in circles around a lamp post near the playground.

“This is your fault.” Bilbo said to Thorin.

“I know. I am truly sorry. I have never heard anyone sing ‘the wheels on the bus’ so fast before.” Thorin said thinking back to the hell full car ride here.

An idea  seemed to hit Thorin in the moment, “How about if I make it up to you?”

“How?”

“I take you out to dinner.”

Bilbo looked at Thorin like he was crazy. “We just had lunch.” Thorin chuckled.

“Later tonight. Dis could watch Frodo for the night.”

“oh… _oh._ ” Bilbo blushed. “L-like a date?”

“A date.” Thorin confirmed.

“Okay.” Bilbo agreed. “Only if you catch Frodo.”

 

It took Thorin twenty minutes to catch the hyper child. Bilbo just sat back and enjoyed the show. It felt good to not be the one chasing after the boy for once.

When Frodo had realized that if Thorin caught him he had to go home it became a game of tag. When Thorin was catching his breath, Frodo would run up and tag him.

 

Frodo was still hyper on the way home.

He was never having soda again till he was twenty.

 

Thorin told Bilbo to wear something nice. Frodo had wanted to help Bilbo pick an outfit.

Bilbo ended up wearing his only navy suit; Even if the red one looked better Unca. He hadn’t put it on in at least a year. It was a little tight but Bilbo could live with it. He let Frodo pick the tie; the boy chose a dark blue one with a weird symbol in silver on it. Frankly Bilbo couldn’t remember where he got it, but it was his favorite tie.

 

At about seven Thorin knocked on his door. Frodo had finally crashed, and was knocked out on Bilbo’s bed.  Bilbo picked up his nephew who was just limp in his arms. He opened the door with Frodo balance against his hip.

“Hello.” Bilbo greeted. Thorin was wearing a suit similar to the one he was wearing the day the met.

Bilbo blushed when he noticed Thorin was openly staring at him. He shifted on his feet after a minute or two.

“Well? Say something!” Bilbo finally snapped.

Thorin was still floundering for words, he swallowed. “You look…”

“Thank you.” Bilbo put him out of his misery. “You look nice as well. I’m sorry it’s a little tight.” Bilbo said pulling at his pants a bit. “I haven’t needed to wear a suit in over a year.” He said with a little laugh.

 

They dropped Frodo off at Dis’ apartment, ignoring her smirks.

Frodo was still out like a light.

They switched into one of Thorin’s smaller cars.

 

When they arrived at the restaurant, Thorin was ever the gentleman. He opened Bilbo’s door for him, helped him out and even walked him inside. These actions all caused Bilbo’s blush to grow.

The restaurant was very fancy. Bilbo would have never come here on his own, too expensive for his tastes.

The waiter showed them to a isolated table in the nicest part of the restaurant. There was almost no one around them.

“The owner is a family friend.” Thorin explained.

  _So he’s part of the mob as well._ Bilbo’s mind said, he ignored it.

Thorin orders a bottle of wine when the waiter handed them their menus. Bilbo couldn’t read half of the items on it!

“Let’s make a deal.” Bilbo looked up at Thorin who’s head was resting on his interlocked fingers. “I can order something for you, or you can take a chance and order for yourself.”

“And if I let you order?”

“If you like it, I get to take you out on another date.”

“A little soon to ask me on another date, isn’t it?” Bilbo asked with a smile. This date wasn’t going horribly so far. “What if I don’t like it?”

“I would have to take you on another date to apologize for this one.” Thorin said simply.

Bilbo laughed, “we’ll see.” Bilbo took one last glance at the foreign menu. “Okay, you can order for me.”

“Excellent choice. This restaurant has some more exotic options that are not very… edible.”

The waiter returned, handing Thorin a bottle of wine. Thorin gave the man an order in a langue Bilbo had never heard before. It sounded familiar, but Bilbo couldn’t place it ( _like so many important things_ his mind told him.)

“Bilingual?” He asked impressed.

Thorin smirked but said nothing about it, besides, “a special order.”

“You didn’t order me something like ‘frog legs’, did you?” Bilbo said playfully.

“That isn’t what you wanted?” Thorin said with a straight face as he started pouring the wine into their glasses.

Bilbo paled. “You didn’t.”  Thorin started chuckling, Bilbo narrowed his eyes. “You are horrible.”

“You make it so easy.”

 

“So… it’s a fancy cheeseburger?” Well it smelled and looked delicious. Thorin had gotten one as well, in fact he was already eating it.

“Yes.” he said when he swallowed his food. “Trust me. You will like it.”

Bilbo took a bite. It was perfect. Bilbo could die right now; with this burger, he felt that is life was complete. It was a mouthgasm.

“This is amazing!” he said when he swallowed it.

“Does this mean I have earned myself another date?”

“Most likely, but the night is still young.” Bilbo laughed before returning to his food.

 

After dinner Thorin and Bilbo shared a dessert before heading home.

“Yes.” Bilbo said in the car on the way to pick up Frodo.

“What?”

“Yes. You’ve earned a second date. I had a fun time, I wouldn’t mind doing it again.”

“Excellent. It was the food that won you over wasn’t it.”

“The food did help, but it was actually the company.” Bilbo smirked as Thorin looked over at him. “Eyes on the road!” He snapped playfully, though he didn’t want be in a car crash either.

 

“Thank you Dis.” Bilbo whispered to his friend as he picked up Frodo from the small pie of sleeping boys. It appeared as if Fili, Frodo, and Kili had decided to wait up for Bilbo. They fell asleep in the hall.

Thorin had gone to get Bilbo’s car.

“No problem.” She whispered back. “When he wasn’t sleeping, he was an angel. You have to tell me your secret I would love to have the boys sleep like that for one night.”

“It comes at a price. Tomorrow you should ask Thorin if he had fun in the park.”

“I will, don’t you worry. I also want details from your date.” Bilbo rolled his eyes.

 

Bilbo took a deep breath. He was finally out of that suit! He really needed to have that let out. He must have grown. Grown, yes grown. He most defiantly had gotten taller. That must be it!

Bilbo had put Frodo in his bed when they got home. Bilbo knew he would follow his nephew to sleep soon.

Bilbo was now walking about his house in his night clothes. A nice mug of tea ready to go; he would read a book before bed. The couch looked very comfy tonight. Bilbo picked a random book off the shelf in his office, and settled down on the couch.

Bilbo jumped a little when Thorin sat down next to him. He was practically naked! He was only wearing a pair of sweat pants! _Lovely chest though. Is that a tattoo?_

  _SHUT UP!_ He yelled at his mind.

Thorin also had a book. He sat very close to Bilbo, because the other side of the couch must be broken, right?

Bilbo tried to go back to his book. It was useless. _Damn!_ Thorin had a nice chest. He was well sculpted, and had a beautiful six pack.

Even if a body made by the gods above was sitting next to him, his eyes were begging to droop. Bilbo felt himself nodding off. If he happened to fall against Thorin… oh well.

He vaguely feels himself being pulled closer against the space heater of a mob boss.

It should be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. Bilbo wouldn’t mind sleeping next to Thorin’s hunky form every night. It felt safe, secure, loving.


	10. Lazy Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo and Frodo play outside together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's taking so long to update. I have two ideas i want to put in the story but they need to be farther along in the plot, so these are mostly filler chapters and chapters to further Bilbo/Thorin's relationship.
> 
> The next chapter is most likely going to be from Frodo's point of view.

 

Bilbo woke up in his own bed. He was confused. Didn’t he fall asleep on the couch, next to … oh.  _Well that’s embarrassing._  Bilbo thought back to their dinner, he smiled softly. It was very nice. The just wished could have had more time before… what was he just thinking about? Oh dinner right.

He might as well get up now. He could return Thorin the favor for making (bringing) breakfast the other day.

 

He had a good feeling about today.  The birds were singing outside the kitchen window. Today was going to be a lovely day to go outside.

Bilbo flipped the pancake in the frying pan.

He could garden or even just relax outside. Bilbo would love the just run bare foot in the grass. That would be amazing! Frodo loves to go outside with Bilbo when it’s just the two of them.

Maybe they could eat outside on the patio this morning.

 

Frodo slumped into the kitchen, roused by the smell of pancakes.

“Mornin’ Unca.”

Bilbo handed him three placemats. “We’re going to eat outside today, put these on the outside table please Frodo.”

The boy seemed a little more awake now.

“Kay!”

 

Thorin walked into the kitchen to find in empty. Bilbo watched amused as he realized that Bilbo and Frodo weren’t there, but food had been made.

“Out here.” He called. Thorin blinked and came on the patio through the sliding glass doors.

Bilbo’s yard was about a medium size. It was completely fenced in. the side adjacent from the door were covered with low over hanging trees and a rather impressive garden. Next to the garden was a gate that led into the Gamgee’s property. There was a grill and small fire pit off to the side of a patio. There were two wooden lounge chairs in the middle of the yard.

Bilbo and Frodo were sitting a glass table in the middle of the stone small patio.

“Hello!” Frodo waved with a mouthful of pancakes. Bilbo gave him a look. He swallowed his food before apologizing.

When Thorin had sat down next to Bilbo, only then did Bilbo notice that the man was wearing the same outfit from last night (plus a shirt.)

“Did I fall asleep on the couch?” he asked Thorin as the man served himself some pancakes.

“Yes.”

“How did I end up in my bed?”

"I carried you. You need to eat more; you're to light. You are very cute when you're sleeping." Frodo was giggling.

"T-thank you... i think?"

"Unca isn't cute! he's 'andsome!" Frodo said proudly. "Mrs. Auntie Dis told me to say that. Oh! and if 'Mr. Thorin was bein' a meanie' she said to tell him 'apples.'"

"Apples?"  _that’s odd._  Bilbo thought to himself.

"I'll tell you another time." Thorin said to him.

 

Bilbo was watering his garden when Frodo came up and tugged on his pants leg.

"Unca, will you play with me?"He asked sweetly. How could Bilbo say no?

"Okay what do you want to play?"

"Tag!"

"Are you sure?" he asked, the hose was still running. Frodo nodded. “I guess I’ll be it…” he said a little disapointed.

“Unca you can- ahh! UNCA!” Frodo laughed as Bilbo started spraying him with water. He ran away from the cold hose.

 

Bilbo chased him for a bit, till they were both soaked. He then turned the hose off. They both scurried inside and changed into some warmer clothes.

After they changed Frodo dragged Bilbo back outside to play catch.

Bilbo hadn’t seen Thorin after breakfast. He was problally doing some work.

But seriously, Bilbo was starting to think that Thorin didn’t actually do anything at all. Bilbo hasn’t really seen him working once.

 

Thorin went out back to find Bilbo to ask him a question. Before he could even locate Bilbo or Frodo some called out to him.

“DUCK!”

Now, Thorin prided himself on his fast reflexes. He could disarm someone in 3.2 seconds (they had timed it with Dwalin.) But he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the ball that smacked him in the side of the head at what felt like the speed of a built.

He fell down on the patio.

“Oh my! Thorin!” The man blinked, his vision was blurry. He saw a vauge outline of someone above him. “Oh god! I am so sorry. Are you okay?!” Bilbo helped him sit up. “I am _so_ sorry Thorin. I didn’t see you until it was too late.”

Bilbo was checking Thorin for injuriesas the man sat there dazed and a little stunned.

“What hit me?” he asked.

“Unca did!” Frodo exclaimed. When did he get next to Thorin? “Unca threw his fast ball! We baggins’ are sue-sue-… um… superm…”

“We have superb throwing arms. I am so sorry. Frodo asked me to throw a fast ball, I had no idea you were going to walk outside. Oh… that’s a nasty bump.” Bilbo hissed. “Let’s get some ice on it. Frodo could you get an ice pack from the freezer?”

The raven haired boy ran inside, leaving Thorin alone with Bilbo.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I am fine…”

“No you’re not! You’ve a giant lump on the side of your head!”

“Unca I found the icey packer!” Frodo ran outside with a towel and turtle shaped ice pack in hand.

 

Bilbo helped Thorin inside while Frodo was playing catch with the fence. Bilbo laid Thorin down on the sofa, he sat on the coffee table.

“I am so terribly sorry.”

“As I said, it’s fine Bilbo.”

“But I feel so bad.”

“it was an accident, they happen. However I must admit that was a good hit. It’s rare anything gets past my reflexes.” This made Bilbo even more upset. “I am fine, honestly. Go back outside and play with Frodo.”

“Are you sure?” Bilbo couldn’t help but worry. It was his job as a care taker of so many children.

“Yes, now go.” Thorin pushed Bilbo towards the door.

Bilbo reluctantly returned outside, but not before promising to come back and check on Thorin later.


	11. Frodo's view

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a normal day in Frodo's eyes.

 

Frodo’s POV

Frodo was very excited when Monday came around. He couldn’t wait to tell Sam about his weekend! It had been really super awesome! He was tying his shoes right now.

“Bunny ears, bunny ears, playing by a tree. Criss-crossed the tree, trying to catch me…” He mumble the rhyme Uncle Bilbo taught him. “Bunny ears, Bunny ears, jumped into the hole, popped out the other side beautiful and bold!" He pulled tight.

Yes! Another day of successfully tied shoes!

“Hi Frodo.” Sam knocked on his door before entering.

“Look!” Frodo pointed to his shoes. Sam gave him thumbs up as he sat next to Frodo on the bed.

“Mommy took me to the garden center this weekend!” Sam told his friend. “they had like every flower, _ever!_ ”

“No way.”

“Yes way! And mommy let me get some seeds! Sunflowers!” Sunflowers were Sam and Frodo’s agreed favorite flower. “she said I can plant’em all be myself!”

“cool! Mr. Thorin took me and Unca to see a bunch of awesome rocks! They came in every color.”

“Even blue?”

“Yeah! Then we went to a dinner. I stole some of Unca’s sodar!” they both burst out giggling. Then we went to the park. Mr. Thorin and I played tag.” Frodo looked around Sam at the door, before whispering, “He’s kinda slow.”

Sam barely held back his laughter.

“Mr. Thorin took Bilbo some place really nice. I had to go over to Mrs. Auntie Dis’. Unca let me pick out his tie!”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Yesterday Unca hit Mr. Thorin wit a ball. Mr. Thorin wasn’t mad at all! Not like Mr. Maggot.” Frodo wrinkled his nose.

 Mr. Maggot was the neighbor on the other side of Frodo’s house. He didn’t react as well as Mr. Thorin did when Frodo and Sam accidently hit his prized cabbages.

“Time to go boys!” Uncle Bilbo called out from the front door.

“Did you bring your walkie-talkie?” Frodo asked. Sam fished the device from his pocket with a grin. “Merry and Pip are gonna be so jelly.” Frodo laughed as he grabbed his own.

 

Mr. Thorin didn’t stay today. When they got to the daycare he had to leave. But it wasn’t long until Mrs. Auntie Dis showed up. She had a day off today. Fili and Ori had a day off as well; they were on ‘spring break.’

That confused Frodo. It was really hard to break springs.

 

Frodo was drawing his weekend with Mr. Thorin and Uncle Bilbo next to Sam who was coloring in all of the flowers he saw at the garden center.

Fili was playing with his brother, Merry, and Pippin.

Ori was reading Gimli a book. Gimli wasn’t listening; he was just looking at the pictures.

Mrs. Just Auntie Dis and Uncle Bilbo were talking in the kitchen about ‘Pansty rester ants.’ Frodo didn’t know what those were but they sound cool, he wanted to see one.

 

After lunch Fili asked if they could play outside for a bit.

“Okay.” Bilbo went outside with the other boys as Sam and Frodo put their art supplies away.

 Mrs. Just Auntie Dis was waiting for them. “Lovely pictures boys.” She complemented.

“Thank you. It’s a picture of when Unca hit Mr. Thorin with a ball.”

“Really? Thorin didn’t catch it?” she was really surprised.

“Uh-huh.” Frodo didn’t understand why. Mr Thorin seemed really slow. First the tag, then not being able to duck a ball; Frodo was really concerned for him. “But don’t worry, Unca kissed it better! I don’t think he knows I saw him do it…”

“I see…” she smirked. “What did you draw Sam?”

“The flowers I saw at the garden center. They had every flower!” An Idea struck Sam, “Wanna see the garden? Frodo and I help plant it!”

“I would love too.” She let the two excited boys drag her outside to the garden.

 

 

“I can stick one up my nose!” Frodo looked around. Fili, Kili, and Gimli were arguing by the sandbox. No one but Frodo noticed.

Uncle Bilbo was in a deep conversation with Ori, Merry and Pippin were playing on the swings (he would congratulate them later on their new marriage,) and Mrs. Just Auntie Dis was learning all about the garden from Sam.

“I can stick two up my nose.” Fili said smugly.

“Twee!” Gimli boosted.

Frodo had a bad feeling about this argument. He was no tattle-tale but, this seemed rather important. He tugged on Mrs. Just Auntie Dis’ dress.

“Yes Frodo?”

“I think they’re doin’ someting bad.” He whispered, pointing at arguing boys.

“I think you’re right Frodo. Excuse me for a minute boys, I’ll be right back.”

Frodo and Sam watched as she walked up behind them and asked sweetly, “What are you boys doing?”

Fili and Kili screamed and jumped, whipping around to face their mother. Sam and Frodo giggled at their reactions.

“N-nothing!” Fili squeaked out. Kili nodded fiercely in agreement.

“We stick rocks up noses!” Gimli ratted them out unintentionally, “Shh! Is a secret!”

“All right you lot come with me.”  She sat them down in front of Bilbo and Ori who were watching the scene with amusement (much like Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin were as well.) “You will never stick things up your noses. It will hurt, and we would have to go to the doctors.” She scolded them. “You will sit here until Bilbo says you can go.”

 

“I really, _really_ like him.” Frodo was half awake. He was listening to Uncle Bilbo and Mrs. Just Auntie Dis talking. He was sharing a blanket with Sam.

“Then take the next step.”

“What next step?”

“a kiss.”

“K-kiss- What? No! we’ve only gone on one date.”

“You’ve lived together for like a month. You’ve gone on like ten ‘dates’, this was just your first one without Frodo.”

“What if Frodo doesn’t like the change?”

“I don’t think he’ll mind.” There was a rustling noise. Frodo was too sleepy to open his eyes, so he chose to snuggle closer to Sam. “He already sees Thorin as family. You have no reason not.”

Of course he did. Mt. Thorin liked Uncle Bilbo like Gaffer liked Aunt Bell.

Frodo fell back asleep.

 

“I like Mr. Thorin, he’s nice.” Frodo told Sam. He was sent to bed an hour ago. They were talking n the walkie-talkies, Uncle Bilbo didn’t know.

“I like him too.”

“Unca isn’t having any more nigh’mares!”

“No more bad dreams!” Sam explained.

“Shh! Sam we have to be quiet!” Frodo whispered giggling.

 

Neither boy slept that night. They were both wide awake when their respective caretakers came in to wake them.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As funny as this may seem, never stick rocks up your nose. Seriously it hurts, a lot! I decided to spare them this pain, because in can relate. I unfortunately know from personal experience from when I was about five. (As does my twin sister. We didn’t learn a lot from each other’s mistakes as small children.) 
> 
> My doctor had a collection of things kids stuck up their noses that he pulled out. Like no joke, he actually does. He asked my dad if he could keep the rocks.


	12. Ponies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Effects of staying up all night. Ponies. Finding Nemo.
> 
> Thorin's POV at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ran out of ideas for the kids, so i'm just using experiances from my own childhood. My sister and i were very mischievous.

Bilbo was surprised when he found Frodo awake and ready. Usually Frodo was a pain to get out of bed. Bilbo took the small miracles without question.

 

Thorin had come home late last night. He came in right before Bilbo was going to bed. Thorin had wished him a good night then took a shower. Bilbo just shrugged.

This morning he was moving a little slowly, like he ached all over. If Bilbo noticed the bruises on Thorin’s knuckles, he didn’t say anything. Bilbo just set a bottle of Advil in front of Thorin with a sympathetic smile.  The man silently thanked him. 

 

Sam and Frodo were really hyper this morning. Bilbo would catch them giggling like they had a secret out of the corner of his eye in the rearview mirror.

 

Thorin was making coffee in the kitchen when Bilbo came out of his office. Esmeralda had dropped Merry off a few minutes ago.  Bilbo glanced over to check on Merry who was still asleep. 

He had to do a double take for a minute; Frodo and Sam were curled up next to Merry snoozing away.  Bilbo had a feeling he knew their secret now.

“Sneaky little devils.” He mumbled to himself before going to get some of the coffee Thorin had made.

 

Bilbo had woken the sleeping boys up as Pippin was dropped off. Merry woke up the fastest when offered some breakfast. Frodo and Sam were harder to rouse but they eventually got up as well.

 

Bilbo told Ori and Fili they could spend their break at the daycare if they wanted to. They did. Dis dropped them off with Gimli and Kili. She also dropped off a few gifts for the daycare from Bofur.

After lunch the boys wanted to play inside today. They were playing cow boys. Sam, Merry, and Pippin were making the healthy dinner of plastic food. Frodo, Ori, and Gimli were working one the pillow fort for the cowboys to live in.  Fili and Kili were to watch the ponies. (the gift from Bofur was six stuffed horse heads on sticks. )

Bilbo found Fili and Kili just staring at the ponies with contemplating looks on their faces.

"Whats wrong boys?" Bilbo asked them.

"We have a small problem." Fili told him.

"We had 6 ponies."

"No we only have 5."

“Gimli’s is missing.” They both looked to Bilbo to solve the problem.

“I don’t think it’s missing.” Bilbo pointed their attention over to recently built fort where Gimli was charging around on his pony.

 

On the way home Thorin got a phone call. He had something that he needed to do when they got home. He didn’t tell Bilbo what, nor did Bilbo asked. They both knew it was for the better.

Bilbo also ignored the little ship of his heart when Thorin had called his house home.

 

Dwalin was waiting with a car when they pulled into the drive way. Bofur was waiting with him. Bofur was going to spend the night with Bilbo and Frodo. Bilbo didn’t mind, he really wanted to get to know Bofur better.

Bilbo walked Sam home while Thorin went inside to change. Thorin waited till Bilbo came back to say goodbye. Bofur had gone inside the house with Frodo, and Dwalin was waiting in the car. 

“I will see you later.” Thorin kissed Bilbo on his forehead. 

“Get going.” Bilbo shoved him towards the car playfully. Thorin gave Bilbo one last smile before getting in the car and driving away.

 

Frodo had wanted to watch a movie after dinner. They decided on Finding Nemo. Bofur was sitting on the ground. Bilbo had offered him a chair or some of the couch, but Bofur said that it ‘felt familiar and comforting.’ whatever that means. Bilbo just shrugged it off.

Frodo was sitting in Bilbo’s lap.

“Unca can we have some popcorn?”

“Sure, but you have to move for a bit.” He gently pushed Frodo from his lap. 

“Pause the movie?” Frodo asked him. Bofur was really into the movie, he didn’t seem to notice them talking. 

“No, you keep watching. I’ll be right back.” He ruffled Frodo’s hair. He had seen this movie enough times he could almost recite every line.

Bilbo put the popcorn in the microwave, and leaned back against the counter as it started popping.  When it beeped he poured the popcorn into the bowl. 

He set the bowl between Frodo and Bofur (who had moved to the couch while Bilbo was gone.) as soon as he sat down Frodo crawled back into his lap. Bilbo couldn’t help but smile; his nephew was so cute.

Bilbo relaxed back against the couch to enjoy the movie. 

_How could this life get any better?_ He thought to himself.

 

Since there had been no more threats from Saruman or his men, so Thorin felt it was safe to leave Bilbo alone (even if Bofur was there.) He was on his way home, leak having been dealt with.

He was discussing business with Dwalin in the car when his phone rang. 

“Thorin there was an intruder at the ‘mountain’.” Balin told him. Thorin ordered Dwalin to head to his family’s manor.

“How did they get in?” 

“The south gates. Laddie,” Balin paused like it pained him to say it. “You’re not going to like it.”

 

Thorin slammed his fist into the wall. _He_ took the Arkenstone. His family’s heirloom. Why would He do that? Thorin had trusted him! How could he betray Thorin like his? How could he betray his family like this?

Thorin had no words for how he felt. 

Angry? Yes. Betrayed? More then he could believe. Shocked? Yes. Hurt? Yes; and so much more.

“Thorin.” Dwalin didn’t flinch at the glare when he spoke up. “There is still someone in the Gem room.” 

It appeared that Thorin would get his revenge right now.


	13. Three shots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin finds an intruder who he did not expect.
> 
> Violence and a wee bit of cursing. It switches to Bilbo's POV mid chapter.

 

Thorin clicked the safety on his gun. Dwalin, Balin, and Gloin right behind him.

“I don’t know where the brat went! ‘e was here a minute ago! Coulda sworn ‘e ran in’ere”

“We best get out of here. Stop while we’re behind you know?”

“The boss will understand.” Thorin gave the signal.

They moved into the room. Two thugs froze on the spot, it was too late for them to reach for their guns.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Thorin told them.

“I told ya it wasn’ worth it!” The thug on the right said as he threw his arms in the air in surrender.

“Dwalin take them downstairs. Gloin, Balin, I want this whole floor cleared.” He gave his orders. His men nodded and left to do their jobs. Thorin holstered his gun.

How could Bilbo? He had _trusted_ him, Dis _trusted_ him. What of Frodo? Thorin had grown to care for the boy, much like he cared for his nephews. Why would Bilbo steal the Arkenstone? Thorin was just getting angrier and angrier. Bilbo better worry, for the next time Thorin saw him it would not be pretty.

“Thorin.” The Mob boss was startled out of his thoughts by Balin.

“What is it?” He snapped.

“You had better come see this laddie.”

 

Upon entering the room, Thorin heard a whimper and the sound of crying. Gloin was crouched next to the bed in one of the guest bedrooms. He was looking under the bed. When he heard Thorin, he sat up; he was giving his boss a look. The kind of sympathetic look only a parent gives.

Thorin went over to him and looked under the bed. In the dark he could make out a small form. It was shaking, backed up as close to the wall as it could be. Thorin could recognize the curly black hair anywhere. Fear struck close to his heart. 

 “Frodo?” he breathed out. Not only had Bilbo stolen the Arkenstone, he had brought Frodo? _How could he?_ Thorin thought with disgust.

“Dorin!” Frodo cried out when he recognized Thorin. The boy crawled out from under the bed right into Thorin’s arms. He was sobbing, gripping Thorin like a life line.

 “Shh, Frodo it’s okay.” Thorin rubbed his back carrying the child out of the room. “It’s okay.” He comforted. “What happened?”

“D-day came a’ bedtime. Hur’ Mr. Bofur. Too’ me an Unca!” He cried into Thorin’s chest. Thorin could barely understand him.

“Who?”

“scawy men.”

“How did you get here?” Thorin hated that he had to question Frodo. He just wanted to wipe all of the tears away and never let the boy cry again.

“Day ma’e Unca stea’ da stone! Day was gonna hur’ me! When day no' 'ooking, I ran li'e Unca tol' me. I sca’d"

"You've be so brave Frodo; Bilbo is going to be proud of you." It was the only thing Thorin could think to say. All of the anger and betrayal he felt at Bilbo before had dissipated in an instant.

Frodo blinked, tears still running down his face. "Bwave? Li'e Ma'tin an Wichad?"

"Exactly!" Thorin agreed. "Think of me as Richard, and Bilbo as Martin. Would Richard ever let anything bad happen to Martin?" Frodo shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his little fists. "I'm not going to let anything happen to Bilbo okay?" The boy nodded. "Now I'm going to save Bilbo, you have to go with my friend Gloin. He’s Gimli’s dad. He’s going to take you to aunt Dis. She’s scarred too; she needs help to be brave like you.”

Frodo sniffled. “Unca say bwavewy isn’t no’ bein’ sca’d, is pushin’ on anyway.”

“He couldn’t be more right. Can you go help aunt Dis be brave like you?” Frodo hugged Thorin tighter, but nodded. “Good boy.” Thorin handed him to Gloin, kissing his head before leaving.

 

(Bilbo’s pov)

Bilbo struggled against his captors as they threw him into a van. As soon as he had gotten the Arkenstone, they had bound it with his hands; forcing him to hold it in both of his palms as they wrapped the rope around his wrists. Then they had put a bag around his hands and head.

The Arkenstone was strangely the same weight he remembered it to be, but Bilbo didn’t dwell on that. Frodo had gotten away. He had watched as his nephew had just stopped walking, no one but Bilbo had noticed. “Run and hide.” He had mouthed to Frodo. Thankfully his nephew nodded and took off in the opposite direction. Frodo was safe from the danger, but he was alone and frightened.

“Ge’ ‘im in the van.” Someone ordered. A bag was put over Bilbo’s head.

 He tried to count the turns, he really did. It was difficult; after the third turn (right), Bilbo’s head had smacked into something hard. Everything went fuzzy. _Not another head wound_.Bilbo said to himself. He was to dizzy to remember that he had never had a head wound in this life before.

“’old ‘im!” the man from before ordered. Bilbo felt a pair hands steady him.

 

When Bilbo came back to himself, he realized he wasn’t in the van anymore. He was sitting in a chair. He could still feel the cool press of the Arkenstone in his palm and the painfully tight rub of the ropes that tied his wrists.

Bilbo jumped when the bag was yanked off of his head. He blinked away the bright light. Suddenly he found a hideous, pale, scarred face in front of his. Bilbo flinched back. His smirk gave Bilbo an uneasy feeling.

“So this is Oakensheild’s little gem.” His voice was rough and scratchy. Bilbo’s eyes flickered down to his hands. They were still covered by a bag. The pale man’s fingers lifted Bilbo chin, Bilbo was forced to tilt his head back. Bilbo felt like he was a animal being examened for slaughter.

Bilbo leaned away from the touch. “Tell me, what does he see in you?” the man questioned, “Why does he try to protect you?” for the first time Bilbo noticed the prosthetic arm. “Let’s see how well he’s trained you, shall we? Bring the boy!”

A pit formed in Bilbo’s stomach had they caught Frodo?

“uh… Sir, he… got away.”

“WHAT!” The pale man turned on the thug. Bilbo hadn’t noticed him before. Actually now that the pale man wasn’t in his face, Bilbo could see the room. One door, one chair (Bilbo was tied to it), a little bit of water damage, and surprisingly well lit.

“FOOLS! OUR ONLY ADVANTAGE IS GONE NOW! HE WILL KNOW WE HAVE HIS FILTH!” He made a rude gesture to Bilbo.

 

There was a knock on the door. The punches stopped. Bilbo’s head was spinning from the pain.

“They’re here.”

Suddenly Bilbo felt himself being lifted out of the chair. He could hardly put up a fight as he was dragged out of the room. He was blindfolded and gagged.

Bilbo was thrown in the ground. With his hands still tied he couldn’t catch himself. He let out a groan as he collided with the ground. He tried to sit up, pushing his hands on the ground.

Bilbo couldn’t hold back the muffled scream as a foot stomped on his back. His arms were trapped painfully beneath his chest. His body was bruised and tired. Bilbo just wanted to be home in his little hobbit-hole with his nephew.

“Let him go.” _Thorin._ His king had come for him. Even with the blindfold, Bilbo could see him. Long black hair with streaks of grey, Orcrist drawn and ready for action, the beads and armor shining amongst the fighting around him.

“It’s you or him, Dwarf.” The pale man said from somewhere above Bilbo. It seemed safe to assume that’s whose foot was trying to crush Bilbo. Well, the pale man was doing a wonderful job. He would have a marvelous career at one of those vineyards where they crush the wine with their feet.

“Why do this?”

“To start a war.”

“This will by one war your master will not win.” The tone of Thorin’s voice frightened Bilbo a little. This wasn’t the man he had lived with for the past month; it was the dangerous man whose family had been threatened.

“You and your pathetic mob will stand alone.”

“Do you wish to see if that is true? You and I both know Saruman has a great number of enemies who would gladly aid me.”

Bilbo took a deep breath through his nose when the foot was removed from his back. He didn’t have much time before he was force to his feet. And arm was held against his neck, it was almost as hard to breathe when the foot was crushing him.

“Only one of you will leave tonight.” Bilbo felt the tip of a gun press against his forehead. Almost instantly he knew how to get out of the hold.

“You won’t leave alive either.”

_“Throw yer hips out as you kick or stomp on them. Yew’ve got large feet, use ‘em. Once they drop ya, elbow back and then run. It’s yer best chance of escape.”_

Bilbo moved his feet until he could feel the pale man’s shoes. He inhaled sharply through his nose. Wait for it… he heard the click of two guns. Now.

Bilbo stomped down as hard as he could, thrusting his hips back. The man behind him howled in pain releasing Bilbo. Bilbo then swung his arms to the left and backward. With his hands tied he didn’t have much leverage for a strong elbow. His hands ( and the Arkenstone,) made contact with something.

Who ever had been holding him had been knocked out of breath. Bilbo then threw himself to the ground, covering his head with his bound hands.

Three shots went of one right after the other. One from in front of him, two from behind him. Bilbo heard a body dropped. But he couldn’t pin-point from where. There was a sinking feeling in his gut.

_No. not again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry please don't kill me. if i killed Thorin it would be tagged.
> 
> Bilbo is delirious with pain and he's scared, so his two memories are blending together.


	14. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bilbo remembers everything. Thorin's in trouble. Do not wake a sleeping Dis.

_No! NO!_  Bilbo’s mind screamed.  _Please let Thorin be okay._

Bilbo screamed when someone touched his shoulder. That was probably dislocated.

“Bilbo.” Thorin’s voice was over him, helping him up. “It’s okay.” Bilbo could feel tender hands untying the blindfold behind his head. When it fell the first thing Bilbo saw was Thorin. Bilbo felt so relived. The second thing he saw was the pale man, eyes glassed over, blood running down from a spot in between his eyes.

“Bilbo.” Thorin had put himself between Bilbo and the pale man’s dead body. He had started to untie the gag. “Are you okay?” he asked when the gag fell.

Bilbo shook his when he found that his words were failing him. Even if he didn’t want Thorin to worry, Bilbo knew that he was in to much pain play it off that he was fine.

Thorin stared untying Bilbo’s hands.  Bilbo had no energy left to keep himself sitting up right, so he leaned heavily against Thorin. Bilbo felt that everything that he had held back from the pale man about to over flow; like the river at Isengard.

The final break in the damn was when Thorin had finally freed Bilbo’s hands. He had taken the Arkenstone and slid it away. He was more focused on Bilbo than the stupid stone that had split them apart before.

Bilbo let all of his tears flow out. He wrapped his arms around Thorin’s neck and held tight as he sobbed. Thorin wrapped his arms around Bilbo, stroking his hair and rubbing his back.

“Bilbo, we have to leave now, can you stand?” Thorin asked softly. Bilbo shook his head against Thorin’s neck. Everything just hurt too much. “Okay. I’m going to pick you up now. Tell me if anything hurts when I do.” Bilbo nodded and braced himself.

Thorin put an arm under Bilbo’s leg, the other holding his back. “I’ve got you, it’s okay. No one is going to hurt you again.” Thorin started walking, Bilbo still had his face burried in Thorin’s shoulder, so he did not know to where.

 “I want Oin ready by the time we arrive at the mansion,” Thorin was talking to someone else. Dwalin clean up, Bofur I want you to call Dis and tell her Bilbo is safe.” Thorin paused. “Do not mention his condition.”

 

Bilbo remembered. He knew now. He was Bilbo Baggins of Bag End. And it only tool a life threatening experience to remind him.

He knew that this wasn’t his first life. He was a hobbit in his past life. The loved a king, was a burglar, fought trolls, orcs, goblins, spiders,  _dragons!_

He was the Barrel Rider, The Spider Stinger, the Stinging Fly, the Thief, He that walks unseen, The Web Cutter, the Guest of Eagles, The Lucky Number, Madd Baggins! Ring Bearer, The Ring Winner.

He had given the Ring of Power to his beloved nephew. He was a monster. How could he have put such a burden on innocent Frodo!

Bilbo felt disgust with himself. Then he remembered something from his current life. Bofur’s cryptic behavior, Thorin’s flinch when he told the boys of what happened on the gates of the Lonely Mountain.  _They knew._

Bilbo felt a little betrayed. His friends,  _his love,_  had known he was alive. That he was living again as they were, and they did not seek him out. It had been by accident that Bilbo had met Dis. But surely Thorin had known the moment he had met Bilbo again.

The next time Bilbo saw Thorin, Bilbo would have strong words for the King under the Mountain.

 

Bilbo woke up in a soft and warm bed. It didn’t feel like his own bed, but Bilbo wasn’t complaining.

Bilbo was just lying there with his eyes closed. He could feel the pain building as he joined the conscious world again. Bilbo felt a duel pain throbbing coming from his left shoulder and in his chest.

Bilbo took a chance and opened his eyes.  _Bad idea, bad idea_. The light hurt his eyes. There was a small lamp on the bed-side table to his right. Bilbo noticed Dis sleeping on a couch pulled up to the side of the bed.

Bilbo could wake her, she could get him some pain killers… but she looked so peaceful. That and Bilbo knew better than to wake a sleeping Dis. Since he was injured he would get a little sympathy, but that wasn’t enough to convince Bilbo to wake her. He’d let her get up on her own.

Bilbo looked over the foot of the bed to the door when it opened. Thorin entered alone. He didn’t look at Bilbo once, not even when he had taken his seat on Bilbo’s left. He just stared at his hands with deep regret.

It reminded Bilbo of Thorin’s last moments as King under the Mountain. When he was finally able to see past the gold sickness.

It appeared as if he didn’t realize that Bilbo had woken up. Bilbo cleared his throat. Thorin’s head snapped up.

Bilbo watched many emotions flash over his face. Relief. Guilt. Fear. Anger. Bilbo was sure that the anger wasn’t directed at him.

“Bilbo.” He said breathlessly.

“Hello.” Bilbo hadn’t ever heard his voice that scratchy and rough.

“I am so sorry. I never thought that they would attack you like this. Frodo was put in danger because of me.” Bilbo wasn’t mad at Thorin for that, Thorin hadn’t taken him and Frodo; he had saved Bilbo’s life.

“Where’s Frodo?”  Bilbo asked.

“He is safe and sleeping in the other room with Fili and Kili. Gloin and Balin had found him hiding under one of the guest beds in the mansion.”

“Is he hurt?”

“No. He is only a little shaken up and worried for you.” Thorin looked back down at his hands; he couldn’t look Bilbo in the eye. Bilbo realized that Thorin blamed himself.

“Thank you.”

“What?” Thorin’s head shot up again. He was deeply confused.

“Thank you for coming for me, saving my life.”

“I will always come for you.” Bilbo could tell Thorin wanted to hold his hand, but the man didn’t move. “But I do not deserve your thanks. They took you because of me.”

“It is not your fault.” Bilbo told him. “But I am mad at you.”

Thorin sighed, he had expected it. He lowered his head like a child who was being scolded by their mother.

“You remembered. You knew all a long and you didn’t tell me. I have many words for you, King under the Mountain.” Bilbo loved the dumbfounded look on Thorin face. His majestic head snapped up so fast Bilbo thought that he had whiplash. “How dare you find me, and then not tell me! You knew I was remembering!”

“Bilbo.” Thorin sounded like he had the breath knocked out of him.

“When did you know?” Bilbo ask.

“Bilbo,” He started, but he stopped at Bilbo’s pointed look. “I remembered when I was 18, as did most of the company.  Fili, Kili, and Ori have shown no signs of remembering yet. We looked for you. The wizard was no help.”

Bilbo blinked. “Gandalf?”

“Yes, he seemed to know from the very beginning. Hasn’t aged at all, he did trim his beard a bit, it’s a lot cleaner now. He knew where you were and refused to tell us, he said it was for the best. After I remembered, it was about a year and three months when Dis first mentioned you.”

“I’d smack if I wasn’t hurt.” Bilbo almost regretted his words when Thorin flinched slightly.  _Almost._  Bilbo was still mad at him. “Why didn’t you tell me at the daycare, or any time since?”

“Selfishness. I wanted to know you in his life, to make up for my past mistakes, for when you remembered not to hate me.”

“I could never hate you Thorin. Not once have I ever hated you. Not then, not now.” Bilbo felt his eyes tearing up, emotions that he left behind in his past life reopening a new. “I missed you so much.” Bilbo reached for Thorin’s hands. “There wasn’t a day where I didn’t miss you.”

Thorin squeezed his hand; the man had tears in his eyes as well. “I am so sorry my beloved. I loved you so much and I had wronged you many times over. I can never make up for my mistakes.” He pressed Bilbo’s hand against his check, relishing in the contact.

“I will always forgive you.” Bilbo shock his head with a tear smile. “But I will still get angry at you, your very pig headed.” Thorin laughed, smiling back at Bilbo.

“Hm,” they both froze as Dis stirred. She picked up her head blinking. Her view focused on Bilbo’s teary eyes, and then her glare fixed on her brother. in a flurry of yelling, pulling, and shoving, Dis had expelled Thorin from the room. Bilbo could hear the verbal beating Thorin was getting from his younger sister.

Bilbo had tried to intervene but Dis ignored him, and he couldn't get out of the bed. Thorin had not gotten a word in edge wise. Dis had seen the watery eyes and flipped.

Bilbo was terrible concerned for Thorin's safety. He had gotten himself into a sitting up position, which was difficult with an arm in a sling. he was intently watching the door.

After a few minutes the yelling stopped. Bilbo perked up when the door cracked open. Dis poked her head in after a few mintues; her face was red, probably from yelling at Thorin.

“Bilbo are you okay?” She asked coming into to the room fully.

“Yes, is Thorin?” he asked.

“I am so sorry Bilbo. You won’t ever see him again.”

“Dis, I want to see him. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“That’s just the medicine talking.” She pet his hair. “It’s okay.”

“Dis,” Bilbo started, but was cut off when his friend pressed a finger against his lips.

“Shh, rest.” Bilbo pushed her hand away.

“Dis listen to me. I want to see Thorin. It’s not the medicine, it’s because we were talking and I want to talk to him some more. Actually I wouldn’t mind some Advil or something; my shoulder hurts, but that beside the point. Please let him back in here.”

“Why were you crying?”

“Because I just realized how long it’s been since I saw him as he was.” Bilbo wasn’t sure if Dis remembered or not, it was very vague so if she didn’t it would just sound a little weird.

Something dawned on her face (there was a god chance she remembered.) she nodded, walking to the door.

 

It was a few minutes before anyone entered the room again. Bilbo had started to think that maybe Dis had forgotten him, when the door opened again. Bilbo couldn’t keep the smile that broke out across his face when he saw Frodo clutching to Thorin’s chest, head peeking over his shoulder.

Thorin brought his nephew to the bed, letting Frodo down next to Bilbo, taking the seat in the chair himself.

Bilbo couldn’t resist hugging Frodo as tight as he could with his good arm.

“You were so brave Frodo.” Bilbo kissed his head, burying his face into the child’s soft black hair.  

“Unca Thorin promised he was gonna save you and he did!” Frodo happily hugging his uncle’s chest, “Just like Richard and Martin!”

Bilbo looked to Thorin, who was smiling at him. “Yes he did.” Bilbo smiled back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most likely the last chapter for a while. It's not over yet though, i have more ideas i want to write about, mostly the kids exploits.


End file.
